FRIEDENSBURG - Celebrating the end of the school year while promoting the environment, there was a "booknic" Friday at Blue Mountain Elementary West.
Lisa Barnes, Title I reading specialist for Blue Mountain Elementary East, Cressona, and Blue Mountain Elementary West, said the event for first-grade students had their parents, grandparents, siblings and other family members join them outside on blankets to read books while enjoying a picnic lunch.
She said with each of the classes doing some sort of event to celebrate the end of the school year by bringing the families in, spending time reading and having lunch together, Friday's event was just for the first- graders.
Before lunch, Barnes read the book "Here Comes the Garbage Barge" by Jonah Winter to the students and their parents.
The book is a fictionalized account of real events that occurred in 1987 that aims to convince young readers to take their recycling efforts more seriously.
In the book, Islip, N.Y., has nowhere to put 3,168 tons of garbage, so the town officials decide that shipping it south is the right thing to do.
Barnes said that the moral of the story was to not make so much garbage.
After reading the book, Barnes, who was dressed in a "recycling costume," spoke about the importance of recycling and reusing.
She said that after she heard about the book and read it, she decided it was the perfect book for the event.
"I thought here's exactly how we're going to make this literacy environmental festival, blending the importance of literacy with environmental awareness," Barnes said. "I wanted to put something in their hands that would make an environmental difference in the future."
There were also posters in the gym that explained how to live a greener life, such as by making your own cleaning supplies, conserving electricity, washing clothes in cold water, reusing items, buying locally grown and raised food, and walking or riding a bicycle.
All of the first-graders also received a reusable shopping bag from Giant Food Store in Cressona.
Barnes said that the supermarket donated 90 shopping bags.
"It was good that we got some community help to get this going," Barnes said.