Students and staff at School District No. 51 find out what book they’ll be reading together

School District No. 51 in Lethbridge will be the first in North America to take part in the One District One Book initiative, which will include all of its students from kindergarten all the way to Grade 12.

As part of the initiative, every school in the district will be reading the same book over the next two weeks.

After almost a year of planning and organizing, the committee revealed the title of its chosen book at Dr. Gerald B. Probe Elementary School on Monday morning.

Michelle Dimnik of the One District One Book committee said Katherine Applegate’s book, Wish Tree, is “an amazing story with themes of friendship and kindness, tolerance and unfortunately, intolerance and what we do when immigrants move into a community and how they’re welcomed or how they’re treated.”

The location for the book launch was fitting, as Dr. Gerald B. Probe Elementary School was the first in Canada to take part in the One School One Book initiative back in 2007. The initiative has grown since then to reach multiple schools and eventually entire districts.

“Literacy, love of literacy and families reading together really is the message that we want to get out in our community,” said the school’s principal, Heather Hadford. “Then there’s the underlying theme of the book, which is caring and sharing and welcoming people who are different than we are to our communities.”

Both staff and students will be on the same reading schedule in order to encourage discussion between students and adults from different schools and between all age groups.

“There is a message here for all ages, including adults, and that every single age group is going to understand different levels of this book and so it’s an opportunity within families and within communities to sort of have older students talk to younger students about, ‘What do you think this book means?’ and ‘What’s the message?’” Dimnik said. “I hope it influences our future generations in terms of how they treat others.”

The students were also surprised by another announcement, learning the book’s author is coming to Lethbridge on April 9.

Applegate will be visiting Winston Churchill and Chinook high schools. Students at the schools will have an opportunity to hear her speak, either in person or via livestream.

Applegate will also be speaking at the university later that evening, which will be open for anyone to join.