DECATUR - In a back room at the Decatur Public Library, boxes and boxes of brand-new books are stacked, waiting to be delivered to Decatur schools.

Inside the boxes are sets of books around the theme, "Created Equal," the result of a grant applied for jointly by assistant city librarian Karen Bjorkman and Debbie Holeman-Shipp, grants administrator for Decatur School District. Only 3,000 libraries nationwide received the grant.

Having the books at the schools and the library will be useful in several ways, Holeman-Shipp said. If a student wants to read a particular book and someone else has beaten him to it, the schools are part of the Rolling Prairie Library System and another school or the public library can send its copy to that child's school. A teacher who wants to organize a reading group can borrow enough copies of a book to make sure every child in the group has his or her own.

"It creates the opportunity for kids to see community agencies working together as well as a common theme," she said. "And what more appropriate theme, with the presidential election and all the excitement and involvement and the history that we're making, the kids can be exposed to literature that is important and relevant."

Decatur's position as an area rich in Abraham Lincoln history provides another opportunity, she said. Families can visit the very sites they'll be reading about in the books, without spending a lot of money or going far from home. Several of the books in the sets are about Lincoln, with others devoted to slavery. Others are about other periods of history. Some are fiction, some are nonfiction and the books are aimed at various age groups, from beginning readers to high school levels, so there's something for everyone.

Bjorkman writes grants for the library, and it just made sense for the library and schools to work together, Holeman-Shipp said.

"It enriches our library, helps promote literacy throughout the community, and it demonstrates to our community that you do have two very important parts of the community working together for a common goal," she said.

The books are already available to borrow from the library, Bjorkman said.

"Being as this is a pilot program, they included materials on Abraham Lincoln, so it was a more elaborate (set) than they had ever done before," Bjorkman said. "It's quite a deal. It's a combination grant between (the American Library Association) and the National Endowment for the Humanities. We're really thrilled."

AVAILABLEBOOKS

"Created Equal" books include: "The Gettysburg Address"; "Pink and Say"; "The Ugly Duckling"; "Lincoln: A Photobiography"; "Many Thousand Gone: African Americans from Slavery to Freedom; Saturnalia"; "Lyddie"; "Give me Liberty! The Story of the Declaration of Independence; Abraham Lincoln the Writer; Freedom Walkers; Elija of Buxton"; "Breaking Through"; "Abigail Adams: Witness to a Revolution"; "Flowers for Algernon"; "Amistad"; "Lincoln's Virtues"; "That All People May Be One People, Send Rain to Wash the Face of the Earth". It also includes "History in a Box," resource material on Abraham Lincoln.

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