As the Spanish Immersion program in Sioux Falls continues to grow, LHS’ library plans to equally expand the amount of Spanish literature it supplies to students.

LHS is the only high school that currently houses the Spanish Immersion program. When the first small class of Spanish Immersion students arrived to LHS, Librarian MaryPeters originally only purchased a few Spanish versions of books that she knew were popular among high-schoolers, but over the summer and the next few years, she plans to continue buy Spanish titles.

“Right now, what I did was I was just trying to get popular fiction, just as a small start,” said Peters. “I ordered things that were popular regular fiction for [Spanish Immersion] students, but then I had also been starting to look at a little bit more, some nonfiction, some biographies.”

As Peters continues to build the library, she is working with librarians at Sonia Sotomayor Elementary School and Edison Middle School, as well as with the Spanish Immersion teacher at LHS, Monica Conover, to make sure she is getting the right books for Spanish-speaking students.

“I reached out to Sonia Sotomayor and Edison Middle School, who was the middle school immersion school and asked what they did,” said Peters. “And, so they actually had a committee, and they told me to come meet with their committee, and I just talked to them about where they got their books, what they were buying, just because I knew that every year we were going to gain more and more students, and I just didn’t have enough books for that program.”

Additionally, next year, Peters will be heading for a Spanish book fair in Mexico to talk with booksellers and purchase books that are suitable for high school students.

“I’m going to actually go to the Spanish book fair in Mexico next year and talking to those booksellers because they have more knowledge than I do too, which will be a great experience,” said Peters. “It’ll give me knowledge. [The Sonia Sotomayor librarian], she went last year, and she said it was amazing. She just made a lot of contacts and learned a lot about authentic texts and what kinds of things they should have in an elementary, and to me, that’s just the knowledge that I need to have that I don’t have.”

The books will be located on the shelves closest to the fiction section.

“The goal is to, every year, keep growing and growing so that there’s a large collection in the library,” said Peters.

Here are some of the books that will be added to the library next year:

Adventuras De Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Emma by Jane Austen

Jane Eyre by Jane Austen

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Al Final Muren Los Dos by Adam Silvera

Correr O Morir by James Dashner

Te Dare Las Estrellas Y Mucho Mas by Sarah Dessen