During the week of December 2, Kempsville held its annual Scholastic Book Fair in the library. For the past two years, students have purchased their favorite novels from Scholastic Corporation to support educational reading.

Cruel Crown, a book from the award-winning Red Queen series, seemed to be a popular choice among students. It’s not surprising given the neighboring stock of dystopian novels such as The Maze Runner or Catching Fire.

Ms. Lori Todd, the librarian media specialist, greatly recommended casual reading. She cited many incidents in which students improved in school just by sticking their nose in a book. Reading has shown to increase vocabulary and composition, two key components in the average English class.

“You learn so many new things. You can learn about different cultures, you can travel to faraway countries without even having a passport,” said Todd.