MONSON-SULTANA – You know the drill: Walk up to a vending machine. Put in your coins, punch in the spot number, watch as the gears turn — hope nothing gets stuck — and grab your selection from the bottom.
Typically, that’s a cool drink, a chocolatey candy bar or maybe a bag of chips. For students at Monson-Sultana School, however, it’s a book. It may be a chapter book with tales of dragons, a bilingual picture book about a little dinosaur who’s hungry or a Spanish-language book featuring 10 notable Mexican scientists.
Perhaps most importantly, it’s a book that’s free for students to take home, read and keep.
“(That’s) huge,” Monson-Sultana School Principal/Superintendent Roberto Vaca said. “It’s huge because the work that we do is very purposeful, and kids need to be at or above grade level when it comes to reading, and oftentimes it’s just not having access.”
With this new book vending machine, provided to the school by nonprofit Save the Children and unveiled during a Sept. 8 assembly, Vaca said his goal is for students to build libraries at their homes.
“Here at Monson-Sultana, we say we don’t enroll students, we enroll families,” Vaca said. “And so (we’re) putting these books in their hands and we’re also building parent capacity through different parent engagement programs to ensure that they are supporting us at home.”
Reading celebration
Unintentionally coinciding with International Literacy Day, the Sept. 8 assembly at Monson-Sultana featured a school-wide celebration of reading.
Teachers and students dressed up as some of their favorite book characters — highlights included Edward and Jacob from “Twilight” and a nod to “Captain Underpants” — and participated in activities sponsored by Save the Children throughout the day.
Led by upper-grade students in the Associated Student Body, volunteers from all grades participated in a relay race that ended with them balancing books on their heads and hands. Those who joined in on the fun then got the chance to make the first book selections from the vending machine.
Although not everyone got a book right away, each student at Monson-Sultana will receive at least one free book from the vending machine to celebrate its arrival at the school. Staff haven’t determined exactly what the incentive structure will look like yet, but students will continue to receive tokens to use the machine as part of their reward system for good behavior.
Lucero Chavez Ramirez, the California state director for Save the Children, told students at the assembly that the book vending machine is theirs. As they improve their reading skills and show a curiosity and joy of reading, they’ll get tokens for the machine, she said.
“And a lot of you might be thinking, ‘Well, I’m not really a reader, or you know, reading is really not my thing,’ but let me tell you, at Save the Children, we believe that each and every one of you has the potential to become strong readers,” Chavez Ramirez said.
Chavez Ramirez said that part of becoming a strong reader is finding books you actually like.
“We’re hoping that with this vending machine and some of the books that you’ll get today, you will be inspired to read books that you like,” she said.
Rural literacy
Save the Children is a nonprofit with programs in the United States and across the world that focus on supporting children’s wellbeing, whether that’s through emergency response, early education or global health missions. In Tulare County, the organization works with schools to provide resources, literacy curriculum and training for educators.
Vaca said Monson-Sultana became connected with Save the Children in 2023 through the school’s social worker, Jennifer Robledo.
What started with donations for books and toys became a full partnership with Save the Children supporting Monson-Sultana’s goals to improve literacy among its students, who come from two rural, unincorporated communities in northern Tulare County.
“Oftentimes, we are forgotten, and so instead of sitting there and crying about it, we are very intentional about seeking different grants,” Vaca said. “Save the Children has been an amazing partner.”
Vaca told students at the assembly that the day was all about “ensuring that every single one of you is able to read at or above grade level, and we have the plan to do that.”
In the 2024-25 school year, 37.9% of Monson-Sultana third through eighth graders met or exceeded state standards in English/Language Arts on the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress. About 25% of students nearly met standards and 37.2% of students did not meet state standards.
Monson-Sultana is not alone in this. According to data from Save the Children, children from rural communities across 39 states are, on average, reading half a grade-level behind their non-rural peers in third through eighth grade. California is one of seven states in which rural students are a full grade level behind or more in reading.
Learn Without Limits
Monson-Sultana was selected by Save the Children as the only school in California — and one of just five communities across the entire country — to receive a book vending machine.
In addition to Monson-Sultana, communities in Kentucky, Mississippi, Texas and Washington took part in the Sept. 8 launch of “Learn Without Limits,” a national movement spearheaded by Save the Children in partnership with the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, Mattel, Scholastic, Penguin Random House and more.
According to a press release, the movement is intended to ensure every child can read by third grade.
“Learn Without Limits is an invitation for everyone to help change that by investing in children early, surrounding them with the tools they need to succeed and helping ensure every child has the chance to build a brighter future,” head of Save the Children’s U.S. programs Mary McInerney said in the press release.
It also places a special focus on the educational disparities between rural and non-rural communities.
“Children who develop strong reading skills early are far more likely to succeed throughout school and later in life,” McInerney said. “Yet for too many children in rural America, the path to becoming a confident reader is shaped by barriers that begin long before they enter a classroom.”
Learn Without Limits intends to remove those obstacles, the press release said.
“The foundation for education starts at home, but oftentimes the kids don’t have that structure or the resources, and that’s where we come in,” Vaca said.
