"My bag is heavy," a first-grade student at J.J. Harris Elementary Charter School said last week as he lifted a bag of books onto his shoulder.

But that's a complaint staff and volunteers with Books for Keeps like to hear.

A local nonprofit, Books for Keeps provides 12 books to low-income students in elementary schools where 90 percent or more of the students receive free or reduced-price lunches.

The books are distributed in an effort to help prevent "summer slide," which is both a summertime lapse in reading and a tendency for students to forget some of what they learned during the previous school year.

"We're trying to help these students, who have so much potential, be prepared for middle school by being able to read on grade level," Executive Director Leslie Hale said. "Research shows that children from low-income families loose ground over the summer and return in the fall with less knowledge than they had in the spring.

"Because many of these students go home to families that have trouble getting access to books, we want to make sure they have books to read all summer."

During the 2012-13 school year, Books for Keeps distributed 40,000 books to children in five Athens elementary schools, including 24,000 books to about 2,000 students through Stop Summer Slide!

This year, the agency added five more schools to its roster, increasing its services to over 1,000 additional students.

Over the two-week distribution period, the agency will visit J.J. Harris, Alps Road, Fowler Drive, Gaines School and Stroud elementary schools in addition to Winterville and Oglethorpe Avenue elementary schools and Athens' Downtown Academy, which were added this year. Books for Keeps also added Freeman Elementary in Warrenton, Ga., and Dunbar Elementary in Atlanta.

While Winterville and Oglethorpe Avenue were added because they reached the 90 percent threshold of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch, Downtown Academy was added because its small classes met the same category of need as students served in public schools. And, although there are agencies in Atlanta that provide assistance to at-risk populations, including summer reading programs, Hale said Books for Keeps also chose to target a school in Atlanta and one in rural Georgia because of the unique type of needs found in those areas.

"Students we are serving for the first time in the new schools are blown away by the fact that they get 12 books to take home and keep," Hale said. "In schools we've been in for a few years the kids have done it before and know how it works, so it's fun seeing this sense of newness from the children."

But getting books isn't completely old hat for students from schools the agency has served before.

In the library at J.J. Harris students in a first grade class are unable to wait until they return to their classroom to look at their books and dig excitedly through bags to show their friends what they've chosen. Student Taliyah Nash said she chose a book with fairy tale stories and a Boris and Bella book in addition to a variety of books about animals ranging from cats to dolphins.

"I like animals because some of them are so interesting," Nash said. "I have a big book that has all kinds of animals in it at home and I learned about different kinds of spiders. I have a sister coming to visit me and she loves snakes so I got this book about snakes for her," she said pointing to a book in her bag.

Nearby classmate Ericka Wilson said she also enjoys reading about animals and had chosen a lot of different books about animals to read this summer.

When it comes to book selections Hale said it's interesting to see what's popular among students. While classics like fairy tale books never get old, trends pop up such as Lego books because of the Lego movie as well as unique requests on topics like engineering.

"It's hard to fill a niche like (engineering), but it also shows us how diverse the children's interests are," Hale said. "If we can tap into that it will encourage their desire to learn and help them in the future."

For more information about Books for Keeps, visit booksforkeeps.org.

• Follow faith, health and Blueprint reporter April Burkhart at www.facebook.com/AprilBurkhartABH.