CINCINNATI — Echoes of "thank you" could be heard around Rothenberg Preparatory Academy on Friday as dozens of elementary students received new books.
The donation marked the millionth book giveaway from the Scripps Howard Fund, which is the charitable arm of WCPO 9's parent company the E.W. Scripps Company.
Also partnering with Scholastic, the Fund gave out Dav Pilkey's latest book from his "Dogman" series at the Over-the-Rhine elementary school. Other than "Dogman," Pilkey is known for his "Captain Underpants" books, which kids have enjoyed since the late 1990s.
One of the key tenets of the Fund is to improve childhood literacy, and WCPO 9 and the Fund have given away tens of thousands of books locally through various book fairs since 2017.
The book giveaways are part of the Fund's annual "If You Give a Child a Book" campaign. For the campaign, the Fund partners with Title I schools to reach underserved and vulnerable children living in poverty.
WCPO 9's Tanya O'Rourke helped give the millionth book out to Rothenberg students, many of whom she said were ready to start reading right then and there.
"It's like super interesting because it's like a new book that the author just made" said Juellz Bailey, a 5th grader at Rothenberg.
Bailey, who finds lots of joy in reading, estimated it would take him about two days to read the new book. He also thought it was "pretty cool" that the book was given to the students for free.
The young, aspiring author also believes that books help thousands of people.
You can learn more about the "If You Give a Child a Book" campaign here.
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