Magic Touches Local Orlando School Libraries
The Orlando Magic basketball team donates 4,000 books and money to needy schools
Debra Lau Whelan -- School Library Journal, 2/1/2003
"The greatest need at these schools was to update and replenish books," says Magic spokesman Scott Bowman, adding that there was also a shortage of Spanish-language books to cater to a burgeoning Hispanic community. School media centers also received $10,000 worth of LeapFrog's Literacy Center and LeapTrack products, as well as Magic beanbags, pillows, chairs, blankets, and balloons to help attract more children and parents to the library.
The Magic, which targets K–5 grade schools, worked with each school's curriculum specialist to help choose software, such as Accelerated Reader's, that measures students' literacy progress. There have already been some positive results. Wheatley Elementary, one of the three school libraries chosen by the Magic last year, has recorded a 20 percent increase in its fifth-grade standardized reading test scores.
Started in October 2001, Read to Achieve is a program funded by the National Basketball Association that encourages young people to develop a lifelong love of reading. All 29 NBA teams take part in the program.
