An English teacher in his 14th year, Christopher Leavens speaks fast and animated, with his eyes often growing wide when he\u2019s talking about reading.<\/p>\n
A good book, he says, as a matter of fact, can change a kid\u2019s life. Just being a reader also helps improve writing and communication skills, he adds, his excitement building.<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir sleep gets better, their stress level, their impulse control, their empathy, all these other things,\u201d Leavens, 36, says. \u201cIf you could take what reading does to you and put it in a pill, it would be the fastest-selling pill in the world, because of all the benefits that can come from it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Christopher Leavens, an English language development teacher at Guadalupe Centers Middle School, laughs as he teaches a lesson on sentence structure to seventh grade students on Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, in Kansas City. A good book, he says, can help change a student\u2019s life. Tammy Ljungblad tljungblad@kcstar.com <\/p>\n
Now picture for a second, when in 2022 Leavens joined the staff at Guadalupe Centers Middle School, in Kansas City, as an English Language Development teacher and learned there was no library or librarian. No shelves full of books for the kids to peruse and choose from.<\/p>\n
After feeling like \u201csomething was missing,\u201d inside the charter school where space is limited, Leavens \u2014 who teaches seventh grade sheltered English and focused language study \u2014 says he saw a challenge. And along with that an opportunity to slowly fill the need, an effort he says his principal and district embraced from the get-go.<\/p>\n
What started with a small bookshelf inside his own room, has four years later grown to eight more \u201cclassroom libraries\u201d inside the English Language Arts and English Language Development classes, and the momentum is only building. Rising test scores and increasing student buy-in show that Leavens\u2019 idea and the school\u2019s project, \u201cAztecs Read,\u201d has changed things inside this charter school without a library.<\/p>\n
Leavens has brought in authors to talk with the kids. Students have taken field trips to libraries and have earned rewards and prizes for independent reading.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is amazing to see how much the reading culture has shifted,\u201d said Carolyn Duff, an English Language Development teacher for Guadalupe Centers Middle School. \u201cStudents have gone from I don\u2019t do that, I don\u2019t read books, to truly believing that they are readers and finding interest in it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walking down the hall, she sees students \u201cproudly\u201d carrying the books they\u2019ve checked out from their classrooms. If they have a little free time they pick up a book. And on the recent Thanksgiving break, many students clocked reading minutes each day through Beanstack, a digital platform and app that tracks time and promotes incentives and rewards for students who read.<\/p>\n
In her own classroom, Duff\u2019s students regularly check out books from the collection of Spanish titles she\u2019s built since coming to the school.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can see the shift around the school,\u201d said Duff, who applauds what Leavens started. \u201c… It\u2019s impressive and inspiring to see someone do something so big in an out-of-the box way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nayeli, a seventh grade student, reads a classroom library book during class on Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, at Guadalupe Centers Middle School, in Kansas City. Tammy Ljungblad tljungblad@kcstar.com \u2018Needed to get creative\u2019<\/p>\n
This \u201cshift\u201d comes at a time when thousands of schools across the nation \u2014 a significant portion of those being charter schools \u2014 don\u2019t have a designated library or librarian, according to recent studies and statistics.<\/p>\n
The fear of continuing budget cuts only makes it more critical for schools to come up with ways to focus on literacy when there\u2019s no physical space for a library or money for librarians.<\/p>\n
The Guadalupe Centers district \u2014 which serves 1,600 students \u2014 has a library in its elementary school, but not in the middle or high schools.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we needed to get creative in the secondary level,\u201d said Luis Posada, principal at the middle school. \u201cThat\u2019s urban education. Sometimes space is a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his classroom, Christopher Leavens, an English language development teacher at Guadalupe Centers Middle School, talks to Jose, a seventh grade student, as he teaches a lesson on Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, in Kansas City. Leavens said \u201csomething was missing\u201d from the school without a library \u2014 so he\u2019s bringing in more and more books. Tammy Ljungblad tljungblad@kcstar.com <\/p>\n
Just look at Leavens\u2019 own classroom library, says Posada, as he points to the wheels at the bottom of two large metal shelves that hold the teacher\u2019s library of books.<\/p>\n
\u201cNotice, even the shelves are like moving shelves, because sometimes, due to growing pains, we have to move classrooms,\u201d said Posada about a school with a waiting list of 300 to 600 students. \u201cSo then, how do you take your library with you?\u201d<\/p>\n
The principal says he can see the difference the focus on reading and literacy is making \u2014 from seeing \u201cthe pride\u201d students have, to knowing they are enjoying and comprehending what they are reading.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re a small school, so everybody knows each other.,\u201d Posada said. \u201cKids see each other carrying a book and that also creates a ripple effect. … The other piece, too, is our test scores are speaking loud as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the 2022-2023 school year, students made progress on the NWEA reading test, which measures a student\u2019s level of reading comprehension, improving an average of 3.69 RIT (Raish Unit) points. In the 2024-2025 school year, two years into implementing \u201cAztecs Read,\u201d students improved by an average of 6.17 RIT points, nearly double the growth from two years before.<\/p>\n
Christopher Leavens, an English language development teacher at Guadalupe Centers Middle School, talks with Nancy, a seventh grade student during class on Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, in Kansas City. Tammy Ljungblad tljungblad@kcstar.com <\/p>\n
The next hope is to have more books accessible across all classes, such as social studies. The ultimate goal is to have the students at the school have similar access to great reading as their peers across the city, Leavens said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it was Cherry (character Sherri Valance whose nickname was Cherry) in \u201cThe Outsiders\u201d who told Pony Boy that, you know, the sunset looks the same on our side of the tracks as well,\u201d Leavens said, referring to S.E. Hinton\u2019s coming-of-age novel about rival teen gangs divided by their socioeconomic status.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo as an English teacher, I think that it\u2019s just imperative that we give our kids that opportunity to be able to read books,\u201d Leavens said. \u201cTo have choices over the books that they read, celebrate them for the reading that they do and build up a community of readers here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018A momentum builder\u2019<\/p>\n
The mission in the beginning was simple: Get books in the hands of the kids.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember saying that over and over again our first year,\u201d Leavens said as he recited those eight words. Twice.<\/p>\n
In the fall of 2022, he asked school leaders for money to buy books, to create a small library of sorts for his students. Then when Posada came to the school several months later Leavens asked for money to fund small \u201clibraries\u201d for other classrooms.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe already had a plan in place with a budget number,\u201d Posada said. \u201cSo then it was easier to see how we can work things out. But the idea was to get books in kids\u2019 hands, and we did that through different formats.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it was always a great idea, because we know we need to help students go from learning to read to reading to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can see the shift around the school,\u201d said Carolyn Duff, an English Language Development teacher for Guadalupe Centers Middle School, about the ongoing push to bring more books into the KC charter school. Tammy Ljungblad tljungblad@kcstar.com <\/p>\n
Duff taught at East High School, which is part of the Kansas City Public Schools system, before coming to Guadalupe Centers Middle School four years ago. At East, she said, there\u2019s a \u201chuge library\u201d and a librarian who helps students and teachers.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo that was a big change for me,\u201d Duff said. \u201cOur kids, you know, come from the same district boundaries. So it just felt like a really big access issue, an equity issue, to not have a library.\u201d<\/p>\n
As an English language development teacher, who could always take her students to a library to find books, she didn\u2019t have a personal collection of titles. She soon saw Leavens ask for money to begin a small \u201clibrary\u201d in his classroom.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt definitely was a momentum builder,\u201d said Duff, sitting in her small and cozy classroom next to Leavens\u2019 room. \u201cIt is amazing what one person asking a single question will do for the group. Because other people realized, \u2018Oh, wow, like, I can ask for the same thing, and the answer might be yes.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2023, the Guadalupe Centers school district gave the middle school $10,000 to buy books that created more \u201cclassroom libraries.\u201d The support from the school and district continues.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe goal is to support a culture of reading,\u201d said Dean of Students Jacey Shoffner. \u201cThe teachers and the families and the system have to support that in order for the kids to really want to do it. So I think everybody\u2019s on board and making it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Added Duff: \u201cThe classroom library is really just been the start of surrounding students and honoring who they are and making sure to provide them equal access to things that I think are so normal in other schools.\u201d<\/p>\n
The school now has around 3,000 books for the student body of 350, which breaks down to about nine books per student, Leavens said. Estimates vary on the minimum number of books a library should have. Some experts say it should be at least 10-12 books per student while other estimates say a minimum of 20 books per student.<\/p>\n
Members of the community can help the school build their \u201clibraries\u201d by purchasing Book Bucks at Rainy Day Books in Fairway. Teachers then can use those to buy sought-after titles and genres. A link to purchase those buck for Guadalupe Centers Middle School is here<\/a>.<\/p>\n At the end of each school year, teachers ask students what kind of books they want to see in the classroom libraries.<\/p>\n \u201cThey always want horror,\u201d Leavens says, smiling. \u201cThey love being scared. They always are telling me about horror movies that they\u2019ve seen that I would not even go near.\u201d<\/p>\n Students also lean toward graphic novels. And books about sports and ones \u201cthat kind of reflect their lived experience, that reflect their identity.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cReal readers, they pick what they want to read,\u201d he says. \u201cKids need to learn how to choose.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018On fire for reading\u2019<\/p>\n Leavens himself wasn\u2019t a big reader as a young kid, despite the fact that his parents were. Then, for \u201cno reason at all,\u201d he picked up a copy of \u201cFriday Night Lights\u201d by H.G. \u201cBuzz\u201d Bissinger.<\/p>\n From that one book, he said, \u201cI was on fire for reading.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s an experience I really want to bring to our kids,\u201d he said. \u201cIt can be incredibly powerful when a kid finds his book, when they find that book that they just have that experience where it\u2019s like, \u2018Oh, this is fun.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Teachers are seeing those moments. Leavens talks about the reaction of one of his students when she got her own copy of the new \u201cDiary of a Wimpy Kid\u201d book \u2014 \u201cshe hugged it.\u201d<\/p>\n Then in October, Duff had a new student in her class. The eighth grader had only been there a couple of days when for the first time the school hosted a book fair, sponsored by Rainy Day Books in Fairway.<\/p>\n The new student resisted even looking at the books, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cHe said to me, \u2018Why would I need that? That has nothing to do with my life. I never need to read a book,\u2019\u201d Duff said, recalling their conversation. \u201cHe hadn\u2019t had the literary experience of just that being your normal everyday routine of reading with your parents growing up, or just hadn\u2019t had this.\u201d<\/p>\n The student\u2019s world, Duff said, \u201cwas really narrow in the sense that he couldn\u2019t see what a book could do for him.\u201d<\/p>\n But over the Thanksgiving break, during the reading challenge, the student participated and read a Spanish graphic novel. He logged his time into Beanstack, which teachers say has been a big part of the reading success at the school.<\/p>\n \u201cHe read for 10 minutes every day,\u201d Duff said, a smile crossing her face. \u201cIt reflects that he has found enjoyment in something new, and he\u2019s connecting with his home language. Hopefully (he\u2019ll) make connections with others in school that way.\u201d<\/p>\n Again, it goes back to the bevy of benefits that Leavens says reading can bring to kids.<\/p>\n Growing up, Leavens said he had reading role models and bookshelves in every room of the family\u2019s home. He said he knows \u201cnot all of our kids have that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd so I think that it\u2019s our responsibility as a school to be that hub,\u201d Leavens said. \u201cTo be that resource for those kids who might not go to Barnes and Noble or Rainy Day Books or the library all the time.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can be that for them.\u201d<\/p>\n This story was originally published December 13, 2025 at 6:00 AM.<\/p>\n A classroom library book sits on a desk of a seventh-grader during class at Guadalupe Centers Middle School on Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, in Kansas City. The school does not have a library and Christopher Leavens, an English language development teacher, has started a small library in his classroom for the students to have access to more books. Tammy Ljungblad tljungblad@kcstar.com <\/p>\n
In his classroom, Christopher Leavens, an English language development teacher at Guadalupe Centers Middle School, talks about the benefits students get from reading books, on Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, in Kansas City. Tammy Ljungblad tljungblad@kcstar.com <\/p>\n
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