St. Gregory Armenian Church

LAWRENCE - Lisa Apovian's fourth-grade students at the Partham School needed books. Mary Mooradian's Sunday school students at St. Gregory's Church in North Andover needed a lesson in giving. The solution was simple.

After Apovian, a member of St. Gregory's, and Mooradian talked briefly about the Partham School's dilemma, Mooradian decided what this year's community lesson would be.

"Every year the Sunday school has a project to teach them about charity," said Mooradian. "It shows them that they can't just take from the world, they have to also give. We're enacting some of the Christian values they're taught during Sunday school."

The result was eight large boxes -- more than 600 books -- delivered to the Partham School last week.

"We never expected it to be as much as it was," Apovian said. Her 26 students were allowed to each keep a couple of the books, and the others went to the school. "A lot of these kids don't have books at home, so for them to be able to have them at their house is huge."

The books, many of which looked new, ranged in age level from kindergarten to fifth grade. Some items that sparked excitement were "Boxcar Children" books, the "Baby-sitters Club" and the "Hardy Boys" mysteries.

The book donation gave Wilfredo Baez goose bumps - literally. Baez, 10, enjoys R.L. Stine's "Goosebumps."

Jonathan Matos, 11, grabbed "Crossing Titanic" by Barbara Williams out of the pile. He'll have a more comprehensive critique once he finishes the book, but he likes what he's read so far.

"It was a true story, and that ship was very important to people," said Matos, who's a bit of a history buff and has also started reading about Martin Luther King Jr.

Aisha Ortiz, 10, and Letitia M. Deljarillo, 10, both love reading Barbara Parker's "Junie B. Jones" series. The mischievous Junie deals with the everyday trials of being a child; jealousy toward a girl who has everything and fear that her mother will love the new baby more than her, to name a couple.

"I feel happy and a little bit excited to read new books I haven't read," Ortiz said shyly under the hum of the fluorescent lights in the school library.

"I think it was nice of them to give us the books," Deljarillo said with a smile, delighted that she was called to the corner of the library to talk about books and not because she was in trouble.

The kids at St. Gregory's were excited to give the books, Mooradian said. "I got donations right away. I didn't have to call anybody or beg them to do it." Many of the children, who tend to live in more affluent communities, were surprised that the Partham students needed books since they aren't in a position of needing them themselves.

Apovian attributes the eagerness to overlooking community differences, something she feels children should be taught throughout school. "Children don't have that whole class division. It's just kids helping kids."

The Partham School students do their share and help out the community as well. Every year, they have a canned food drive for Lazarus House in Lawrence, and this year they collected money for the Southeast Asian tsunami victims.