Children have a basic right to read. Hands Across the Sea is dedicated to raising children’s literacy in the Eastern Caribbean through school and community library programs.

Their Core Activities & Key Strengths

Since 2007, Hands Across the Sea has been embedded in island schools. The Caribbean Literacy And School Support (CLASS) approach: send great books, create, or rejuvenate lending libraries, and sustain literacy gains has reached more than 140,000 children in grades K-12 by placing more than half-a-million books in over 435 primary schools, secondary schools, and community libraries.

CLASS does more than provide great books that students want to read. In primary schools across the Eastern Caribbean islands, teachers engage students with reading “tea times.” They conduct read-aloud sessions and have students draw pictures inspired by the book they just heard.

CLASS program officers, highly credentialed retired school teachers, principals, and education professionals known as Literacy Links engage teachers to incorporate the library into daily life. They mentor educators and youth giving them the tools to create and shape a fun environment that inspires students to become readers.

Rejuvenating and maintaining libraries in schools and in the communities includes organizing interesting and appropriate book collections, supporting library and in-school literacy initiatives, and training student librarians. Students as young as second grade learn to help their peers select books. They conduct checkouts and serve as library ambassadors in the community. The student librarians pass on their enthusiasm for reading and form the core of the next generation of librarians.