Carver, First Mississippi unveil Book Nook vending machine

Published 4:48 pm Wednesday, January 21, 2026

Students and staff at Carver Elementary School were joined by First Mississippi Federal Credit Union officials in cutting the ribbon Wednesday on a new Book Nook vending machine. Photo by Thomas Howard

Students at Carver Elementary School will be able to earn free books through reading after the school and First Mississippi Federal Credit Union on Wednesday unveiled a new Book Nook vending machine.

Principal Amanda Shadwick said students will be able to earn tokens by completing accelerated reader, or AR, assignments in their free time, at home or at school. Students complete reading assignments through the digital program and take a test to check their understanding of the material.

Carver Elementary School students hold up books selected from the school’s new Book Nook book vending machine. The students were the first to try out the new machine provided by First Mississippi Federal Credit Union. Photo by Thomas Howard

“We have really been pushing AR this year to try and increase our reading readiness for the next grade level, and so anytime that a student reaches an AR point club, they earn a gold token and get to come to the machine,” she said.

The machine is stocked with a variety of books for different reading levels, as well as a number of Spanish language books since Carver has a good number of Spanish-speaking students, Shadwick said.

Nevayah Forbes, a third-grade student at Carver who was one of the first students to select a book, said she enjoys reading. Her selection from the machine Wednesday was “The Cool Bean Makes A Splash,” by Jory John.

“I like books about like people going for vacation and going for a swim and stuff,” she said.

While completing the AR assignments needed to earn a gold token takes work, Forbes said she is looking forward to getting even more books throughout the year.

The book machine at Carver joins a similar machine unveiled at Poplar Springs Elementary School in August. First Mississippi Federal Credit Union Director of Marketing Crystal Clark said both machines are part of a literacy initiative by the financial institution.

“This initiative started about a year ago. We felt there was a need to increase the interest in our youth and our young kids today, to increase the interest in reading,” she said. “And so we came up with the Book Nook.”

In addition to Meridian Public School District, the credit union has partnered with Clarke County School District to install book vending machines in its elementary schools as well.