The stories we share

November 12, 2025

By La Crosse Community Foundation

Hamilton Literacy Resources project brings books home and people together

When the School District of La Crosse’s elementary library team planned to bring author and illustrator Angela Dominguez to area schools this winter, they saw an opportunity to make reading a community celebration.

Thanks to a microgrant from La Crosse Area Community Foundation, that idea is coming to life through the Hamilton Literacy Resources project — a district-wide reading experience connecting students, families, and teachers through the power of shared stories.

Reading for the love of it

“At Hamilton, we wanted to take it one step further and actually have the books in each family’s hands,” said Carrie Wuensch-Harden, library and HPL (Honoring Potential in All Learners) teacher. “It’s about building not only family relationships, but also a little library within student homes.”

Each elementary classroom across the district will receive copies of “Stella Diaz Has Something to Say” for grades 2–5 and “Maria Had a Little Llama” for younger readers — both by Dominguez. With LACF funding, Hamilton families will also receive their own copies to read together.

“This isn’t a reading program,” Wuensch-Harden explained. “It’s reading for enjoyment — for the love of reading — and that shared reading experience, not only within our school but across the district. Maybe it’ll spark a family that decides, you know what, we’re going to read a chapter book together.”

Stories that connect us

Dominguez’s characters reflect diverse families and cultures — from Mexican-American and Vietnamese traditions to familiar Wisconsin settings like the Dells and Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium. “I’m hoping students will see themselves in Stella or her friends,” Wuensch-Harden said. “She’s a third-grader who immigrated from Mexico, she has a brother, she’s from a single-parent family — those are all ways kids can relate and recognize that everyone’s story matters.”

That sense of connection extends beyond the classroom. A family night in January will bring Hamilton families together for activities inspired by the books — a salsa-dancing lesson, chopstick games, and more — creating fun, hands-on ways to celebrate reading and culture.

A community effort

For Nell Saunders-Scott, executive director of the La Crosse Public Education Foundation, the project reflects what’s best about community partnerships. “Librarians collaborate so deeply with each other and their community partners,” she said. “They have such a focus on the whole student — everything students bring into school — and they’re always thinking about how to support them as whole human beings. It’s beautiful.”

Through the LPEF’s coordination and support from LACF’s microgrant program, the team was able to purchase nearly 160 books and expand access to families who might not otherwise have them. The project also partners with the La Crosse Public Library, county libraries, and local booksellers — proof, Wuensch-Harden said, that “schools are not just brick-and-mortar buildings. Schools are our community.”

A gift that keeps giving

Beyond encouraging a love of reading, Wuensch-Harden hopes the experience plants bigger dreams.

“I want students to realize that being an author or illustrator is a real job — something they can do,” she said. “If you love to draw or tell stories, you can do that for a living. Or maybe this book becomes someone’s best-friend book — the one you keep coming back to when you’re happy or sad.”

For Saunders-Scott, that’s exactly why community giving matters. “The reason the funding is available is because donors who give to La Crosse Area Community Foundation want to be responsive to the needs in the community,” she said. “We’re just grateful.”

Through those gifts, Hamilton’s readers and their families are discovering how stories can bring us together: building bridges and inspiring new chapters of learning and belonging.