Every middle school in the Fayette County Public Schools is participating in a new literacy initiative called "One School, One Book," where each school selects a novel centered around belonging, community or safety for every stu dent and staff member to read and discuss together over the next month.Every grade level, teacher, bus driver and janitor in the building will spend the next month reading and discussing a novel centered around belonging, community or safety, according to officials with the school system.Crawford Middle School spent the last week building anticipation ahead of its book reveal Friday. Over eight days, students received clues about the book including references to New York City, a mountain and letters and were asked where they would want to write to if they had a pen pal.Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman and First Lady Britainy Beshear were at Crawford for the book reveal assembly. Students will read "Same Sun Here," written by Silas House and Neela Vaswani.Sara Green, a civics teacher at Crawford Middle School Leadership Academy, said the program connects those values directly."The goal of the program is first, for our kids to get engaged with literacy, to get them excited about literacy," Green said."Not only reading but other literacies, civic literacy, financial literacy is very important to us." Goal of 'One School, One Book' initiative is to get students 'engaged' and 'interested'Green said the book's themes of belonging are central to what Crawford tries to build every day."We are very big on a sense of belonging here at Crawford Middle School Leadership Academy, because when you come to school you should feel like you belong," Green said. "This is their community. They're part of a community here at our school; they're part of our community in our city. So just bringing people around common themes that every human experiences no matter where you're from."Educators say the program gives everyone a common topic to discuss so everyone can make a connection through the book. Green said distributing the book to every person in the building not just students is intentional."It's important that students see that other people who may not look like them, or may not be from the same area as them, can see that we have shared experiences," Green said. "It's important, especially in middle school, that students are able to see that, so they feel like they belong. If they come to school and they feel like they belong, they know their teachers care."For students who may struggle with reading, Green said Crawford's daily leadership class will serve as a built-in support structure."You know the first step in getting students engaged is to have them interested," Green said. "If they're interested in the book, then they're going to want to absorb it. Also, if other kids and teachers are talking about it, then they're going to want to be part of the conversation. So I think it's just that the interest level and that everyone is talking about the topics that are going on in the book that will allow our students to really get engaged."Every morning, students at Crawford begin the day with a leadership class, where teachers and students will be able to engage in conversation about the book and identify areas where students may need additional help. This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy. ...read more read less