Cedar Valley Elementary received a grant from bestselling author James Patterson to support its school library.

In addition, Scholastic Reading Club will match each dollar of Patterson’s donation with “bonus points” that teachers can use to acquire books and other materials for their classrooms.

Cedar Valley was selected from 27,924 applications for funding grants. As part of an ongoing effort to keep books and reading a number one priority in the United States, bestselling author James Patterson, together with Scholastic Reading Club made a commitment to help save school libraries nationwide. This year alone, Patterson personally donated $1.75 million to school libraries nationwide, with grants ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 allocated to each of the 467 selected schools.

Cheryl Taylor, the school librarian said: “Receiving this grant will help our school have a wonderful collection of current materials that are of interest to the students, with relevant information that supports Common Core. Students, in order to become lifelong learners, need opportunities to just enjoy reading. Being able to provide a variety of high-interest books and materials will go a long way to not only enrich their academic performance but also steer them towards a love of reading. I’m excited to actually start purchasing the much needed materials and introducing them to the students! Thank you Mr. Patterson for your generosity and for choosing Cedar Valley as a recipient!”

“It continues to be inspiring and motivating to work with James Patterson to support school libraries across the country,” said Judy Newman, President of Scholastic Reading Club. “Jim’s unwavering commitment to helping children read better lives rich with books is transformative. Scholastic is thrilled to be working in such an effective partnership.”

In the first-ever partnership of its kind, Patterson joined forces with Scholastic Reading Club to administer funding applications to their network of 62,000 schools and 800,000 teachers. Applicants were asked to complete an online application posing the question, “What would your school do with $1,000 to $10,000?” The full list of grant recipients is available online at WWW.scholastic.com/pattersonpartnership.

Any U.S. school with students from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade was eligible for a grant. Patterson hopes that the high volume of requests will raise awareness for the problems facing school libraries today. To learn more go to mediaroom.scholastic.com/scholasticreadingclub and follow #PattersonPledge on social media.