“If you can get the book about snakes, I’ll try to get the book about cars.”  Thus whispered one little boy to his brother at the dedication of their family’s new Habitat home, looking at a brightly painted bookshelf holding about a dozen brand-new books.

Overhearing their plan, Mary Polizzotto, Ph.D. and book distribution chair for Books for Collier Kids, told the boys that they were getting ALL the books on the bookshelf to start their very own home library.  The boys’ eyes went wide in pleasure and disbelief.  “Really?” they asked.  “We’re getting ALL of these books?”

This scene takes place about 100 times a year at Habitat home dedications in Collier County.  Books for Collier Kids provides a bookshelf full of wonderful new books, including a dictionary and an atlas, to every new Habitat family.

“We have created a wonderful partnership that greatly benefits the children and their families,” said Lisa Lefkow, executive vice president of Habitat for Humanity of Collier County.   “Thanks to the generosity of Books for Collier Kids, the children are building their reading skills, and many families are reading bedtime stories together for the very first time.”