New book boxes in Timmins aim to promote literacy throughout the city

A partnership involving The Bucket Shop, the Great Book Box Committee, the City of Timmins, The Porcupine Art Club and the Timmins Public Library has resulted in six new book boxes that will be installed in various neighbourhoods throughout the city.

“They’re made out of 1/8th (steel) plate so they’ll stand the rest of time," said Paul Woodward, vice-president of The Bucket Shop.

The one in the Gillies Conservation Area is now installed and ready to use.

“There (are) many people walking along the lake so we thought it would be good for them to take a book, share a book, leave a book and we need more books for children and more books for people of different languages," said Mary Gardner, a member of the Great Book Box Committee.

"We hope that will happen over time.”

Gardner said that in any given week over the summer, about 100 books changed hands. Officials with the Timmins Public Library are pleased to hear that.

“That’s all we want really is people to have access to books and not every parent will bring their child to the library so those children will have access to book boxes around the city to get their books," said Carole-Ann Demers, chief executive officer at the Timmins Public Library.

“There’ve been studies showing that just doing that twenty minutes per day exposes a young reader to so many more words, more vocabulary and that by one year they can advance quite far in terms of their literacy skills," said Karina Douglas-Takayesu, head of Technical Support and Systems at The Timmins Public Library and a member of the Porcupine Art Club.

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The bin at Gillies Lake only has one coat of primer on it as the Porcupine Art Club is contemplating colours and decorations for the boxes.