RAYNHAM — For two weeks, the students saw it sitting in the cafeteria. The kindergarteners and first-graders gawked at it, wondering what it was and why it was there.
It's a large, colorful vending machine. But instead of snacks and soda, it's filled with brightly-colored books.
Merrill Elementary School just unveiled its new Inchy the Bookworm Vending Machine. Students watched as Merrill the Lion, the school's mascot, cut the bright yellow ribbon with a pair of black scissors Thursday morning, marking the official start to the program.
"It will marry technology and a good old-fashioned book," said Joanne Tupper, co-president of the school's Early Childhood Parent Organization (ECPO).
In exchange for acts of kindness, students will receive little gold coins printed with an image of Inchy the Bookworm that work exclusively on this machine. As the coin drops down from the thin slot, the machine says, "one book coming right up," before releasing the student's book of choice.
"Even the coins themselves are just fun for the kids," Tupper said.
Jay Blumberg, founder of vending machine manufacturing company Global Vending, said he created the machine as a unique way to incentivize reading among children. The company introduced the prototype in 2018, and in 2019 "the flood gates open." Now there are over 4,000 machines in elementary, middle and high schools across the country.
“It’s not just a machine, it’s really more of a whole program designed to engage kids in literacy," Blumberg said. “A lot of the schools, they have iPads, they got computers, but a lot of them don’t have actual books in the classroom.”
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Blumberg said that many schools they sell these machines to don't have their own librarians. Libraries are only open two or three times a week, and librarians split their time between multiple schools.
At Merrill, they have their own librarian who works in the school's library full-time, and students can borrow books during their library period once a week.
Each school that purchases the machine receives 100 reusable tokens, and Global Vending has its own art and design department so schools can have custom designs on the machine's exterior. The interior shelves and slots are also customizable to fit different sizes of books.
The machine, which weighs 650 pounds, can fit up to 20 different books, totaling between 200 and 300 individual books inside.
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Janel Hughes, Tupper's fellow ECPO co-president, first saw the book vending machine on a PTO Facebook page. Elementary schools in Stoughton had set up the same machines earlier in the year. Once the ECPO raised enough money through donations, they purchased one and it was delivered to the school two weeks ago.
"Nowadays, everything is electronic," Tupper said. "It really is so perfect."
Merrill Elementary, which has 331 kindergarten and first-grade students, is the first school in the district to bring in the book vending machine.
All the students are just beginning to learn how to read. For the younger kids, there are picture books and a collection of "spot the difference" activity books. For the first-graders, they can choose from various chapter books like "Clifford's Good Deeds."
All the books came from Scholastic and were purchased using credits racked up by the school from hosting Scholastic book fairs throughout the years. Each book centers around a theme of good deeds or being a good friend.
"It's all in tune with what we're hoping to reinforce with the kids," Tupper said.