Overton Little Eagle Library

Books are at the heart of language acquisition for children, and language acquisition is a major, if not the major, factor in determining kindergarten-readiness and long-term school success. Books trigger words, and children need to hear lots and lots of words to develop their brains. Just 15 minutes of reading with a parent every day exposes a child to a million words a year (Anderson, Wilson, and Fielding, 1988). Books are the tools that enable parents to read to and talk to their children.

Jennifer Petzet is a Speech-Language Pathologist for ESU10/Overton Public Schools. She has worked as a Speech Language Pathologist for 23 years. She has a passion for literacy and knows the effects that reading can have on a child’s language skills and their growing vocabulary. She has worked closely with the Overton Prekindergarten teachers to provide language lessons for their classrooms and started the Little Eagle Library to help foster a love of reading within each prekindergarten student.

Thanks to generous donations the Little Eagle Library was able to provide 12 brand new books to each Preschool 3 and PreK 4 student in Overton Public Schools during the 2024-2025 school year (360 books total). These books were given to help build the student’s home library and to encourage a love of reading at home. With each book, parents were also given information on how to use books to encourage language and vocabulary growth. We were also able to host our third annual Polar Express Night, that brought student and their family members in to enjoy watching the movie, enjoying cookies and hot chocolate, all while wearing their pajamas. The Little Eagle Library also hosted our second annual Stuffy Sleepover in the spring with the help of the Overton Library and the Overton sixth grade class. Each Preschool and PreK child brought a stuffy to school to “spend the night”, picked up their stuffy the next day and was gifted a book to read with their stuffy.

The Little Eagle Library goals for the 2025-2026 school year are to encourage at least 15 minutes of reading at home each day and to continue to offer free books each month to our Preschool and PreK students along with a book for their birthday. We would also love to continue hosting Polar Express Night and the Stuffy Sleepover. As costs of everyday expenses rise, so do the cost of books. The Little Eagle Library relies on the generosity of the community and will continue to thrive with community support.