Brook Lopez visits MPS to deliver free books to students

Students at Byron Kilbourn School, 5354 N. 68th St., exchanged fist bumps and high fives with Milwaukee Bucks mascot Bango and had a chance to choose five free books courtesy of Bucks Center Brook Lopez. An event in the school library in March was one of the final “Brook Fair” events of the school year.

Lopez has made it his mission to get books into the hands of students by selecting five schools and providing funds for every student to choose five books to build a home library. In addition to Kilbourn School, he has supported Scholastic Book Fairs at Allen-Field and William Cullen Bryant schools, also in March 2023; and at Hayes Bilingual and Marvin E. Pratt schools in November 2022.

More than 2,000 elementary schoolchildren in Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) have taken home picture books, chapter books, and books in Spanish this season. Lopez has donated more than 10,000 books, estimated to be worth about $75,000.

Students also received bookmarks, called “Brookmarks,” and five bookplates that read “This book belongs to…” The bookmarks and book stickers have Lopez’s likeness on them.

“After seeing how successful last year’s fairs were, Brook decided to sponsor five schools this year. Last year, it was three schools,” said Angela Gilman, senior manager of corporate social responsibility for the Milwaukee Bucks.

Lopez’s family members also have supported his efforts to promote literacy; his mother, brother, sister-in-law, and nieces have attended past events to be part of the excitement of providing free books.

Thank you, Brook Lopez, for helping to promote literacy for Milwaukee children!