Little Mister helps distribute books to kids

By LYNETTE SOWELL
Cove Leader-Press 

Little Mister Five Hills Brayden Chase loves to read, and he hopes other children in Copperas Cove learn to love reading as much as he does.
On Saturday afternoon, the young titleholder helped distribute books to children at the Copperas Cove Public Library.
Chase hosted a Storytime with Santa event for two hours, during which children identified by Communities In Schools with CCISD were invited to stop by. 
The children were treated to cookies and milk, and visited with the man in the red suit. 
Enough books for nearly 300 children were donated by H-E-B, and the books were sorted via age/grade level. Children could each select one book. 
Chase had a little help from fellow royalty in the effort. 
“He loves to read, and he wanted every kid to have a book. So we partnered with H-E-B, who provided all of the books today, 290 books to be exact,” said Wendy Sledd, director of the Five Hills Scholarship Pageant. 
Cecilia Ibarra brought her two sons, Mateo and Santiago, ages 4 and 6, to see Santa and each get a book.
“They just love to read, and love me to read to them. And now that Santiago is learning to read, he wants to do it more.”
Santiago was happy to pick up a copy of the Grinch.
“I like the Grinch because he’s green,” said Santiago. 
Mateo picked up a copy of the Elf on the Shelf. His elf’s name is Chippy the elf and he looked forward to reading his own book. 
“They’re already like, can we read the book, can we sit down and read it right now?” Ibarra said. 
Chase stayed busy, distributing books, and talked about why Saturday’s event was important to him. 
“Reading books is exciting to me. My favorite books are the I Spy books. I like books that have toys in them, too. I usually like kid books, and I read every day,” Chase said. “I like to read with my teacher, Ms. Powell, and at home I like to read with my mom and my sisters and my dad, and my grandma. I’m starting to read a bunch of signs now, too. 
“I like to help other kids, so they don’t have to buy books with their money. They can get an early Christmas present.”