St. Cloud Schools Kick Off 9th Annual One District One Book [PHOTOS]

WAITE PARK -- February is "I Love to Read" month, and local students will be celebrating with a new book.

The St. Cloud Area School District kicked off their 9th annual One District One Book campaign at SCHEELS on Saturday. The in-person event returned after being canceled in 2021 due to COVID-19.

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This year’s book is “Nuts to You,” by Lynne Rae Perkins. K-12 Literacy Coordinator Lori Eckert says the book follows a group of squirrels brought together by a shared hardship and has strong themes of friendship and teamwork.

The electric company is coming and cutting down trees to make a clear path for the wires, but that means the squirrels' homes are getting displaced. So they make friends, they figure out a way to solve a problem together, and they get to know each others' names and foods and communities that are different from their own.

Eckert says each year the district likes to mix it up when it comes to book selection, rotating between people and animals, fantasy and fiction.

Each family with kids in kindergarten through fifth grade will receive one copy of the book on Monday. Eckert says the goal of the program is to bring families together and help students build a life-long love of reading.

This is just something we like to do to share books with families, to bless families with a book, and something to do in these cold days of February so that they have something to look forward to. We know at school that kids always look forward to One District One Book.

All month long, students participate in readings and activities in the classroom and at home. The full activity calendar as well as a video from the book’s author is available on the district website.