Sandown North details ‘One School, One Book’ program that gave every student a copy and boosted community engagement

Sandown North staff on Thursday described a year‑long “One School, One Book” program that gave every student and staff member a copy of the same novel and used community partners, in‑school activities and weekly trivia to extend reading beyond classrooms.

At a Timberlane Regional School District school board meeting, Lauren Asick, principal at Sandown North, said the program distributed books to every student and to all adults in the building — “from the bus driver to the cafeteria staff and custodians” — and intentionally linked the school to local businesses so families could pick up raffle tickets by answering trivia questions about the book.

Asick said organizers chose the sequel to The Wild Robot after the movie adaptation was released Sept. 27 and that planning began during February break. Librarian Laura Ross described creating a week‑by‑week reading schedule, daily announcements with chapter assignments, and classroom comprehension questions. The school also posted posters and staged themed art and robotics activities in unified arts classes.

Business partners kept copies of the book and a ticket bucket at five sites in town — the post office, town hall, the library and two restaurants — and employees asked children trivia questions to earn raffle tickets. Caroline, the acting postmaster at the local post office, and Dave Valance, owner of 12 Coffee & Ice Cream, told the board they enjoyed hosting students and said the program brought families into businesses who previously did not visit regularly.

Students displayed projects at an integrated arts night and took part in hands‑on STEM challenges tied to the story; presenters showed samples of art, sculptures and robot builds produced by students. Author‑illustrator David Badriki visited the school to compare his book about a different robot with the class book, Asick said.

Asick and Ross said the PTA donated raffle prizes and that classroom and family activities — including a family bingo sheet and a “book basket” raffle for each grade — encouraged reading at home. They also surveyed families after the program and reported responses saying the shared reading experience helped siblings several years apart connect, that families read together nightly while on vacation and that the trivia questions prompted extra library visits.

School staff and students suggested refinements for next year: adding an audiobook option, expanding to include Sandown Central and younger grades, including student voice in future book selection, running the program in two halves (one book per half year) and offering a summer reading selection. Asick said the school had attempted to secure permission to post staff‑recorded readings from the book, but contractual restrictions prevented them from uploading staff‑read audio; she said the team will look for books or audio arrangements that allow recordings next year.

The board did not take action on the presentation. Members thanked staff and students and noted the program’s potential to deepen community relationships and library usage.