A local middle school is gearing up for the second year of its literacy initiative and recently received a grant to aid in purchasing the book for the program.

P.S. Jones Middle School was awarded the Lowe’s Toolbox for Education grant on Tuesday at the school by local Lowe’s Home Improvements manager Scott Smith. The $5,000 grant will go toward paying for each student and teacher’s copy of “Home of the Brave,” a book by Katherine Applegate, for the second year of its One School, One Book literacy program. In its ninth year of helping build better schools and communities, the grant program has provided over $35 million to more than 8,000 schools across the country, according to the grant website.

The book follows a child immigrant from Africa, who has been sent to live with his aunt in Minnesota, and tells of his adaptation to his new environment, according to MacMillan Publishers website. Through reading the book, the school’s administration and teachers hope to discuss issues like global awareness and generate understanding of those from other cultures, who immigrate to the United States, said Janet Calloway, an eighth-grade teacher at the school.

“It allows our students to learn how we live in a society different from the rest of the world,” Calloway said. “(Other nations) don’t have the freedom and choices we have here so hopefully it will generate a little bit of patriotism, too.”

P.S. Jones launched its One School, One Book initiative in the fall of last year and the school as a whole read its first book, “Wonder,” by R. J. Palacio, in the three-year cycle. Each student and teacher spent about 30 minutes per day during a four-week period to read the book, participate in classroom discussion and online related materials and share analysis. With over 900 teachers and students, and books costing around $10 each, the total cost of the program is around $10,000 per year.

In its second year of the three-year program, sixth-grade students at the school this year will be the first class to participate all three years and read all three books. This year, the school elected to start reading the book towards the end of school, but next year, it plans to begin about two weeks after school starts due to the end of the year being a time that the school is working on remediation in preparation for testing, according to Dawn Landen, a sixth-grade language arts teacher.

“We think (reading the book as a school) did a lot to unify the school — staff and students,” Calloway said. “We were able to speak with one voice. We did see an increase in empathy and tolerance and we hope to continue that. Both students and teachers liked reading together as well as the discussion. Those were all positives.”

Landen said the school still needs additional funding to meet the $10,000 tab for next year’s books and asks that anyone willing to donate funds to help with purchasing books, contact the school. This summer, teachers will dissect the book, chapter by chapter, and come up with lesson plans teachers can share online and use with their class, Landen said.

The school is still trying to locate funding and a book for the third year of the program, Landen said. It hopes to gain support from local civic organizations, in addition to locating grants and receiving funding from parents and other community members.

If you would like to donate to P.S. Jones’ One School, One Book literacy initiative, contact Dawn Landen at P.S. Jones at 252-946-0875.