Quigley Elementary students welcomed a host of new books thanks to teacher-librarian Sarah Murdoch Black.

Murdoch Black secured $6,250 worth of new books for the school鈥檚 students through a grant from the Indigo Love of Reading鈥檚 COVID-19 Community Response Fund.

鈥淭his is awesome news for students and their families,鈥� Murdoch Black said.

鈥淚t means each student in our school will receive about $25 of new books from Indigo for their home library.鈥�

The grant is aimed at helping children and school communities who have been significantly impacted by the pandemic. The goal is to provide students with books they can read at home that share messages of hope, inclusion and care during these difficult times.

Students will visit the library over the course of the week to pick out their books. The school hopes to distribute the books to the students over the next coming weeks.

Quigley Elementary鈥檚 principal Des Sjoquist said building a home library is a powerful way to teach children the importance of reading.

READ: Canadian Paediatric Society says raising a reader starts from birth