The History of Readers Are Leaders
How it all began
In 2007, at an interclub meeting, Assistance League of Los Gatos/Saratoga shared a program with Assistance League of San Jose called WALTR (We All Love to Read). Utilizing the ideas of WALTR, the chapter devised Readers Are Leaders. Assistance League of San Jose members got in touch with area schools, found interest and received a grant through Intero Realty.
The Focus
To instill a love of reading in young students with volunteers reading in classrooms on a regular basis.
The Goal
To read 12 books a year, six times a year, for 30 minutes with two readers per class.
The Reading Program
The books were chosen by a Book Selection Committee of our San Jose members. Reading sessions were scheduled by a school liaison and a School Team Lead. After each session, the classroom teacher would keep the books for the classroom library. Students received a gift bag to take home for December reading.
In the beginning, volunteers read in five schools with four to five classes at each, servicing 750 students. Over the years, the program has grown to include about 1,400 students each year.
During the pandemic, we delivered books to teachers without knowing if they had time to read them to the students. Our goal was to get books in the hands of children. In 2021, students received books 3 times a year. In 2022, students received 6 books a year with teachers getting 12 books a year, plus a gift book in December. Now, if money is available, students receive three High Interest Science books at the end of the school year for summer reading.
In 2025, Assistance League of San Jose announced a new partnership between the chapter and San Jose’s main Martin Luther King library in downtown San Jose. Senior Librarian Elizabeth Nolan collaborated with our Readers Are Leaders program to source books for consideration prior to each school year. This process of sourcing through the library is sustainable and repeatable and we are very excited to have the support of the library’s resources and expertise.
Enrichments
Enrichments began with bookworm bookmarks crocheted by our Caring Hands members. At first, there were enrichments for 1 book each month, now there are enrichments for all 12 books that are read. Enrichments enhance student understanding and enjoyment of the books, and are an extension related to the theme or story. They are kept simple for students to do without much help and not to be a burden for the teacher. All enrichments are to be considered as “fun” with Assistance League of San Jose supplying the instructions and materials for each book. The enrichments include posters, games, bookmarks, art projects, puzzles, sequencing and word searches.
Relationships with Book Sellers
From the start, we had a good relationship with Hicklebee’s Book Store. They would do demonstrations of new books for us and give us 70-100 books to take on consignment. When the pandemic hit in 2020, Hicklebee’s couldn’t let books out on consignment and choosing books became more difficult. Hicklebee’s was giving us a discount of 20%; we discovered Barnes & Noble would give us 38%. As a result, we began working with the local Barnes & Noble store too. Our relationship with Barnes & Noble grew. The local San Jose store and its customers donated hundreds of new books and games to AL of San Jose each December which were distributed to the schools and to other organizations we service. We were also able to distribute hundreds more new books that the store was culling to make room for new inventory. Sadly, the local branch of Barnes & Noble closed in 2005 and we are currently not able to continue distributing their donations.
The Readers Are Leaders focus and goal remain the same today as when the program began. We are excited to be able to bring the love of literature to so many 2nd and 3rd grade classrooms in San Jose.