Marlboro presents 1,000 Book Club Award

By Mark Reynolds
Posted 11/24/21

Retired Marlboro Teacher Celeste Ricciardone still has her hand in educating students through the 1,000 Book Club; a program that is a partnership between the Marlboro Faculty Association and the …

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Marlboro presents 1,000 Book Club Award

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Retired Marlboro Teacher Celeste Ricciardone still has her hand in educating students through the 1,000 Book Club; a program that is a partnership between the Marlboro Faculty Association and the Marlboro and Milton Libraries.

Last week Kaylee Keane was honored for having read 1,000 books and Keane’s mother, Kathy, is a teacher in the district. Ricciardone noted that doing this during the pandemic was a particular challenge.

Ricciardone said families with children ages 3 to 6 sign can up for the program at the library.

“They take out a pack of 10 books and they do that 100 times and they’ve read 1,000 books,” she said. “The Faculty Association started the program twenty years ago because the 1st grade teachers at that point realized that our children were not reading at the level that we wanted them to read to be successful in Middle and High School.”

Ricciardone said a consultant suggested the district have the students read 1,000 books, something that seemed impossible to achieve. The consultant suggested the district not only get the parents involved but form partnerships with the local libraries.

“It’s wonderful for the families, the parents and the kids. It’s just a wonderful program; so we started it,” she said.

Kaylee addressed the school board, saying, “My new goal is to help Mrs. Ricciardone and my mom revamp the 1,000 book club and add new books to its collection...I would love to start a book drive in the Elementary School and help the MFA redo the book packs. My donation flier would say, New year, new books. I want to give the gift of reading to others. I have been saving up money since September with the help of my family and would love to donate 20 new books to the book club to make it even better.”

Ricciardone took a moment to acknowledge Kaylee’s grandmother, Marie Corcoran, “who worked for the district for many years, an absolutely wonderful person who got me started in the book club.”