Iowa Teen Inspires Children To Read By Creating A Book-Hiding Scavenger Hunt

Reading and scavenger hunts are usually not something that go together. But, now they are thanks to Sami Noteboom, a 17-year-old girl from Sheldon, Iowa.

According to ABC News, Noteboom was looking for a community service project for her 4-H club when her stepmom, Amanda, brought up the idea of hiding books around town after seeing other places doing it in a Facebook post.

This project also doubled as a way to help children read because Noteboom herself used to struggle with reading.

“I thought this would be a perfect way for Sami to start her community engagement," Noteboom’s stepmom told ABC News. "Reading was hard for her at first, so for us to see the process get easier for her was a relief. If putting books in the hands of children makes reading easier for them .... then why not help them succeed.”

The premise of this project is that kids look for a book around town and when they find it, they take a picture and post it on the Facebook page, Sheldon Look 4 a Book. After they read it, they can choose to hide it for someone else or keep it and hide their own book. Every book someone finds includes instructions if you forget the rules.

The books for Sheldon Look 4 a Book were supplied by Noteboom’s stepmom, who is a school teacher, and a grant from their church.

Amanda loves hearing stories about kids in her class finding the books.

“It’s fun to see the kids coming into class excited to tell me they found a book,” she said.

Jed Cox, a father in Sheldon, told ABC News how much this program has his son excited to read.

“He gave one of the books to a friend to read and they hid it together after. The other books he bagged them and hid them again,” Cox said.

But it’s not only Sheldon where people have found Noteboom’s books. Some have been found in neighboring towns and even all the way down to Texas.

With the success of the program, Noteboom hopes it will continue when she goes to college.