DALTON GARDENS - Thousands of books were neatly organized by volunteers in the cafeteria at Dalton Elementary School on Monday morning in anticipation of hundreds of eager children.

Principal Jim Gray went to each of the kindergarten through third-grade classes and announced to excited students that it was their turn to participate in the annual Jingle Book Fair. Each child selected three free books, which were organized by grade level.

"The kids are super excited," Gray said. "When you put a book in a kid's hands, there's just a look of pure delight."

Jingle Books is an annual book drive held by the Coeur d'Alene School District with the goal of providing one book to each child at each of the district's 10 elementary schools. This year, the drive received 15,462 books from the community and was able to provide three books to each student.

After the majority of Nancy Nuttelman's first-graders picked out their three books, they excitedly shared their finds with the teacher.

"I love Dr. Seuss," one student said with a smile on his face.

"I got two really big books and one little one," another student quickly added while proudly showing off his finds.

For Nuttelman, the Jingle Books program is great because it gets her students excited to read.

"It is igniting a passion in them for reading," Nuttelman said.

When asked about the importance of the Jingle Books program to his school, Gray said he appreciated what Greta Gissel, a program coordinator, told him.

"She said that literacy happens between kindergarten and third grade," Gray said. "And it's not that we stop focusing on reading after third grade, it's that this is where the magic happens. This is where a love for reading is developed."

A Jingle Book Fair was also held for students at Winton Elementary School in Coeur d'Alene on Monday.

Throughout the week, similar scenes will happen at the remaining eight schools in the Coeur d'Alene School District. Every student from kindergarten to third grade will get three books, and an additional 500 books will be given to each school.

"It's neat that the community supports literacy and does something like this for the schools," Gray said. "It's been a community-wide effort, there hasn't been just a couple of people donating, and the quality of the books themselves is impressive as well."