Book lady hits milestone toward book donation goal

CHATHAM, Va. (WDBJ) - Jennifer Williams, better known as the book lady, celebrated Read across America Wednesday by giving out a new book to each student at Chatham Elementary. That’s 245 books, and she paid for every last one.

Williams has been giving out books for years, nearing 90,000 with Wednesday’s giveaway. She has a goal of giving away 1,000,000 books. By her current calculations, she’ll be 84 when she reaches that goal.

For the last four years, Williams has provided books for Chatham Elementary kids. She said this year was more important than ever because of how many students are now behind in reading, due to the pandemic. Her favorite part is seeing the excitement choosing a new book brings to students.

“It’s a whole different playing field when every other day of the week, I say, here I want you to read this or take this quiz, fill out these questions, versus when I say ‘pick out what you want.’ And when you give kids, adults, anyone that freedom, it’s a whole different experience than when you say here do this,” said Williams.

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