Literacy Support

Books from Birth
Friends of the Bartlett Library recently sponsored the first graduation party for Books from Birth graduates who live in the Bartlett Area.  Bartlett Librarians provided story time, crafts, and an opportunity to sign up for their first library card.
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Friends donate annually to the Books from Birth organization to help defray  mailing cost. There is no charge to families  for the  books mailed out monthly to children from birth to age five. Books from Birth enrollment forms are available at the Bartlett Library and on their website at www.booksfrombirth.org. 
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Books from Birth graduate Paxton and Library Manager Chip Holiday celebrate at the first Books from Birth Graduation at the Bartlett Library.
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Read For Your School Contest
Update May 2020: The Read For Your School Contest will be online this year.  More details to come very soon. 
The Read for Your School Contest was introduced in 2014.  Currently, Friends allocates $5,000 annually to the contest to achieve these goals: 
  • Encourage children to continue reading and learning, thus maintaining essential skills during the summer break
  • Maximize utilization of the Bartlett Library’s resources by the community
  • Enhance Bartlett City Schools libraries with additional financial support 
  • Foster interaction between the school libraries and the Bartlett Public Library

A “bead jar” is displayed in the Bartlett Library for each school.  As students report their reading achievements or participate in a learning activity at the Library they receive beads to deposit into their school’s bead jar.  At the end of the summer, the beads are counted and a proportionate share of the $5,000 is distributed to each school library.  Typically, 600-750 children participate in the contest each year collecting an average of 12,000 beads. 

Everyone loves the kick-off event and the contest.  Children are motivated, school librarians are appreciative, the Bartlett Library is bevy of activity all summer long, and Friends are pleased and proud to support such a meaningful program for our community.

2019 Final Counts

​Read to Be Ready
The Tennessee Read to be Ready summer camp visited the Bartlett Public Library for a field trip. All the children were signed up for public library cards. Library cards make it easy and fun for students to participate in the Read for Your School summer reading contest. The students enjoyed adding their earned beads to their schools' jars during their visit. 

Read to be Ready is funded by a grant from the State of Tennessee through the Tennessee Department of Education. The program is hosted at Bartlett Elementary and administered by Ms. Lee Loft, Ms. Anne Faulks, and Ms. Page Watson.