Christina de la Garza is one dedicated lady! 

An educator for fifteen years and counting, Christina recognizes the importance of reading and goes above and beyond to ensure that her high school students have access to the books they want to read, spreading a love of literacy throughout the student body by organizing a portable ‘library on wheels’. With 25 new copies of Gabi, A Girl in Pieces, Christina's marvelous message will only continue to spread!

The Importance of Reading

Currently teaching at Animo Pat Brown Charter High School in Los Angeles, CA, Christina faces many challenges as an educator. 

“Animo Pat Brown has a very high poverty rate,” she explained. “It’s difficult, because we don’t have a library, but I consider myself a librarian.”

At Animo Pat Brown, an inner city school with a 98% Latino/Latina student population, Christina says getting her students to read was a struggle from the start – especially since the school does not have a proper library, and the town itself barely any bookstores.

“English is a second language for most of my kids. Some would come to school and brag about how they’d never read a book before,” Christina said. “For most of their families, whatever money they earn goes to necessities. Kids don’t have the opportunity to read.”

Portable Passion

Last year, with funding from a few donors, Christina began to organize the ‘library on wheels’, a simple cart that she started to stock with books she found at Goodwill and various yard sales, along with books of her own.

Since then, the portable library has taken the school by storm, and students are jumping at the chance to get involved in the project!

“I came up with the idea for the book cart, but the students keep track of everything – they run the cart.” she explained. “It gives them some leadership, something to do that they’re passionate about, that they can put on a resume for college. It’s catching on, for sure. Kids are gradually seeing themselves as readers, and they love the book cart.”

The cart is stocked with a little something for everybody – Young Adult novels, graphic novels, comic books, fiction, and nonfiction to delight readers of all interests and imaginations. Many times, Christina told our team, a book will become popular on campus, but there are limited copies to go around.

After winning our Paperback Book Giveaway, Christina decided to remedy this issue by ordering 25 copies of Gabi, A Girl in Pieces. “We had one copy of this book, a few scattered around the school and kids were asking about it,” she said. “We had to keep telling them to come back later, when someone else wasn’t reading it.”

She elaborated, “I ordered this book because our female students all wanted their hands on it. It’s about a high-achieving Latina girl with dreams of studying at UC Berkeley. It’s very relatable for my students, as it also details family and peer conflicts, relationships, and body image.”

Moving Forward

Christina plans to organize a book club for her students to read Gabi, A Girl in Pieces together, and dreams of her high school having a true library someday.

“We may not have a real library now, but the good thing is that we know kids still really want to read physical books. A lot of them never made the transition to e-readers and some have but don’t like them as much. I’m old school with my books, and my students respond positively to that!”

Christina continues to manage the library on wheels alongside her students, as well as organizing many literary initiatives on reading at Animo Pat Brown. “My goal is to continue getting more books in the hands of kids,” she said.

We are so honored to call Christina our Paperback Book Giveaway winner, and commend her for all of the inspiring work she does as an educator!

Educators, don't forget to enter our quarterly BIG K-12 Educators Book Giveaway for the chance to win FREE bulk books for your students!