Book Vending Machine At Highland Park Elementary Encourages Kids To Read

A Broken Arrow Elementary School has a new vending machine that offers something different than snacks and sodas.

The vending machine full of books encourages students to have a love for reading.

"Just wanting to teach our kids not only to read but to have a love of reading, that's just going to be your basis of learning throughout your entire school career," said Kristen Wittman with Highland Park Elementary PTA.

The vending machine sits inside of the library and media center, and students can use it once they get a special token from their teacher. They get the tokens after showing what the school calls one of the Tiger Traits which are tenacity, integrity, gratitude, expectations, and respect."

"When they show those traits, they will get the actual token, and they come down here and purchase their own book to keep," Wittman said.

Wittman says they worked hard for many years with the school library to raise the money for the vending machine. She says she's thrilled to show kids how fun reading can be, but also to honor friend and PTA member Lori DeVries, who passed away last summer.

"We wanted to do this in memory of her because she had put forth a lot of effort to make this happen," she said.

The school will debut the new vending machine at a family literacy night Tuesday night at 6 p.m.