PRIEST RIVER — Creating an interest in reading among students is essential to local elementary schools, and through a recent book drive, students are helping spread the love of literature throughout the community.

"Fourth grade collected 742 books for the book drive, sponsored by our PTO — and that's just fourth grade," Priest River Elementary Principal Connie Kimble told West Bonner County School District officials during the March 21 board meeting.

Idaho Hill Elementary Principal Susie Luckey said her students pulled in 376 books as well, bringing the total to more than 1,100 books.

"And we are very thrilled with that," Luckey said of the IHE number with a glance at Kimble that elicited a chuckle from the audience before she added, "And I do want to say thank you to PRE for running the book drive."

The Priest River Community Foundation wanted to promote literacy in the community, because a lot of kids are behind when they get to kindergarten, Luckey told the Daily Bee. Part of the reason for that, she said, is because it is a rural community and there is no free preschool. To achieve their mission, PRCF gave Luckey a $1,000 grant to organize a community literacy team. She organized the team this year, which consists of some members from the school district, but many are from the community, she said, and their goal is to get books into places where families tend to spend time.

For that reason, the books collected by PRE will be distributed throughout the community, such as the Priest River Food Bank, the Priest River and Priest Lake laundromats, Blanchard Mercantile and Les Schwab Tire Center. That way, kids can pick up the books and take them home, and they will be replaced with more books over time as the shelves will remain in place.

Helping out with bookcases are Priest River Lamanna High School art and woodshop students. Albeni Falls Building Supply donated the lumber, the PRLHS woodshop students made the bookcases, and the art students painted them, Luckey said, adding that they are "gorgeous."

The IHE books that were collected go on the school's "Bulldog Bookshelf," which is restocked through the school's book drive each year.

"We've tried to keep a revolving place for free books for kids, because 70 percent of our population are eligible for free and reduced lunch, so a lot of the kids don't have books in their home," Luckey said. "It is our goal to get books in the hands of kids."

IHE has also written a number of grants to purchase new books for the kids from Barnes and Noble. The school library is then set up in the style of Barnes and Noble and the kids get to come in and pick a book. In addition, kids who complete the school's reading challenges throughout the year get to go to Barnes and Noble at the end of the school year and buy a book

"What we've learned from all of this, and we've been doing this a few years ... if the kids are picking the books, the books they really want to read, the interest and their reading has just skyrocketed," Luckey said.

Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.