Ucluelet Secondary’s Reading for Pleasure project revives the art of literature

By Nora O'Malley, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter /

Samantha Clutesi renews the Wizenard Series: Training Camp, a book about young basketball players, as librarian Lucas Anderson smiles in the back. (Nora O’Malley photo)

Ucluelet, BC

For 30-minutes each week, students in Ucluelet Secondary School’s (USS) Reading for Pleasure are whisked away to the library to cozy up with a book and eat healthy snacks.

No phones. No social media. The only AI in the room is All Imagination.

“The key is to have books that they actually want to read,” said USS librarian and English department chair Lucas Anderson. “A lot of the books were outdated and not connecting with the kids.”

Over the span of two years, Anderson got to work “rehoming” hundreds of antiquated books to make space for more accessible and visually appealing reading options like the Spirit of Denendeh by Indigenous author Richard Van Camp and the Diary of a Wimpy Kid novel series. 

When USS put a call out to the community to contribute funds, Anderson says they raised $15,000 for the library in just three weeks. He orders 95 per cent of his books locally from Mermaid Tales Bookshop in Tofino.

“A lot of people came together,” he said. 

Anderson gave a special note of thanks to Jason Sam, Lucia Lyons and Julie Corlazzoli for all their help and to the Tofino Co-op, Ucluelet Co-op, Long Beach Lodge Resort, Clayoquot Biosphere Trust and Coastal Family Resource Coalition for their generous donations.

One semester into the new Reading for Pleasure project, Anderson says the students are “stoked” to request books.

“It gets me excited,” said the librarian. “We’re 100 per cent doing it next semester.” 

The kids seem to love the literacy program too with many of saying they “wish they had more time” to sit in the library and read.

“I prefer a book to a screen. I’m actually working on my own (book). Reading on paper seems better,” said Grade 8 student Samantha Clutesi.

Anyone interested in supporting the Reading for Pleasure program is welcome to reach out to Anderson at landerson@sd70.bc.ca.

 

 

Holiday book guide

For the baller

  1. The Comic Book Story of Basketball: A Fast-Break History of Hoops by Fred Van Lente and Joe Cooper
  2. The Wizenard Series: Training Camp created by Kobe Bryant and written by Wesley King

For the dreamer

  1. Monkey Beach by Eden Robinson
  2. Embers: One Ojibway’s Meditations by Richard Wagamese

For youth 

  1. A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger
  2. A Wolf Called Wander by Rosanne Parry
  3. Counting with t'uc'up and his Grandmother
Kellen Brown reads a book in the Ucluelet Secondary School's library.
For 30-minutes each week, students in Ucluelet Secondary School’s (USS) Reading for Pleasure are whisked away to the library to cozy up with a book and eat healthy snacks. No phones. No social media. The only AI in the room is All Imagination.

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