Story by Halie Cook at SCV TV.

Live Oak Elementary School received a $2,000 grant from James Patterson and Scholastic Reading Club to help buy books for the school library.

The application was submitted by Kerry Summers, a fourth grade teacher, and the school was one of 467 schools chosen to receive the grant out of 27,924 applicants.

“What a wonderful perk for our kids because that means we can buy library books,” said Cynthia Seamands, principal at Live Oak Elementary School.

All of the funds were personally donated by James Patterson and Scholastic Reading Club will match every dollar with bonus points that allow teachers to buy materials, including books, for their classrooms, according to a Scholastic press release.

The new partnership between Scholastic and James Patterson aimed to give $1.5 million to school libraries in need across the country, according to the release.

“I am thrilled we received the grant and it will really help with books because we recently took on all the sixth graders at the elementary schools, so that’s 100 more kids. So it is nice to have the extra money to buy books,” said Seamands.