KC rallies to donate thousands for books to school with no library: ‘Incredible’
After living in Kansas City for four years, Christopher Leavens says he’s well acquainted with the generous nature and kindness of people here.
Yet the English Language teacher was still a bit overwhelmed by the calls, emails and donations that came in after people learned how he and others at Guadalupe Centers Middle School are trying to foster a culture of reading even without a physical library.
“It’s just incredible,” Leavens said. “The responses we’ve gotten and the very kind phone calls and emails and people trying to donate books and reach out to support us has been wonderful.”
The Star wrote last month about Leavens’ effort the past few years to start “classroom libraries” and encourage reading throughout the charter school. A link included in the story allowed readers to donate money to Rainy Day Books for “Book Bucks” that staff could use to purchase more resources for their students.
As of last week, more than $3,500 had been donated for teachers at the school to buy books. The link, which can be found here, will be active through Feb. 1, said Annie Krieg, general manager of Rainy Day Books, the independent bookstore in Fairway.
“What I love about what Chris is doing and what Guadalupe is doing is they understand how much of an impact resourcing the joy of reading can have on kids,” Krieg said. “And kids feel that.”
Luis Posada, principal of Guadalupe Centers Middle School, said Leavens shared with him before the winter break last month that roughly $2,000 in donations had come in at that time. He didn’t know that even more had been collected.
“It’s very surprising,” he said, referring to all the donations. “But I also feel supported.
“The community wants our students to do well,” Posada told The Star. “And they are donating to make sure we continue what was started. ... It takes a village to raise our students, and I think that’s what we’re seeing.”
‘Very real impact’
When Leavens joined the staff at Guadalupe Centers Middle School in 2022 as an English Language Development teacher, he felt there was something missing. With no physical space for a designated library, there were no shelves full of books for the kids to peruse and choose from.
But he soon saw a challenge. And he knew that he and others — including a supportive principal and district — could help fill that need.
In the fall of 2022, he asked school leaders for money to buy books, to create a small library of sorts for his students. Then when Posada came to the school several months later Leavens asked for money to fund small “libraries” for other classrooms.
After just four years, the middle school now has eight more “classroom libraries” inside the English Language Arts and English Language Development classes, and the momentum is only building. Rising test scores and increasing student buy-in show that Leavens’ idea and the school’s project, “Aztecs Read,” has changed things.
Kids that didn’t love to read before now are eager to check out a book. Students’ comprehension skills are improving, and they’re learning to choose the types of books that interest and entertain them.
Leavens still sees room to build on what they’ve accomplished.
“I’m with the kids every day and I see how much more we need to do,” said Leavens, who teaches seventh grade sheltered English and focused language study.
And donations from the Kansas City community will only help with that.
Leavens said he and others on the English Language team will meet in the coming days to brainstorm how to best use the “book bucks” at Rainy Day Books to provide more reading opportunities for students.
“I mean, we’re looking at 250, maybe 300 books,” Leavens said. “That has a very real direct impact on what we’re doing with our kiddos.”
Literacy in Kansas City
Krieg worked the floor at Rainy Day Books during the holidays and would hear from customers coming in that they wanted to donate to Guadalupe Centers Middle School. She’d ask if they knew a student at the school or if there was any other connection.
Nope, they just read about what Leavens and others at the school were doing and wanted to help, Krieg said.
“I think the surprising thing for me was, if you don’t have a connection to that school, how many people are just connected to Kansas City literacy,” Krieg said, “wanting to see success for the city as a whole.”
It also felt, she said, that people who read about the literacy efforts inside the school could see someone making a difference in a way that made sense. And there was a clear way they could help with that.
“It just felt very direct,” Kreig said. “It’s like, here’s the guy, the guy is going to spend the money, he’s going to get the books to the kids. You don’t have to worry if the books are going to be what the kids want, or if it’s going to go to a network, and the network is going to decide how to spend it in the ‘26 academic school year.”
Instead, Leavens and other teachers working with the students each day will get what they know they want and what will further their love of reading.
Posada has wanted to expand on what the school has done already. He said he’d like to see books in some of the social studies classes that don’t have a classroom library, and staff members have talked about the need for more bilingual books.
As for Leavens, he and Posada share the same excitement for what more the school can do to continue creating a reading culture at an urban school with no library. In his mind, Leavens has been wondering what it would be like if they had a mobile library that teachers could check out and that could be moved throughout the urban charter school.
Now he and other teachers — as well as their principal — can think big like that because of the kindness of the community.
“People in Kansas City are generous people,” Leavens said. “Gracious people.”
