12-05-2025
Over 2,000 books given out for Black Hills Reads in RCAS
RAPID CITY, S.D. (KELO) — Black Hills Reads has been reading to kids and giving out books for the past decade.
This year Sean Covel and the Porter the Hoarder books return with Monument Health to read to first and second graders.
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This week staff from Monument Health and the author of Porter the Hoarder are out reading to students across the Black Hills.
'Rebecca Swift and I created the Porter the Hoarder hospital book to demystify what a hospital is. A child psychologist told us it can be really scary, so we set up games in every part of the hospital to make it fun. And then Monument Health came in to sponsor it. So now providers are going around reading.' author Sean Covel said.
Not only are the health professionals reading, they are also engaging with the students.
'Porter the Hoarder gets to like find stuff in there, like finding ambulance stuff, doctor stuff and that's it. I like to read because I like to learn new things.' RCAS second grader Onyx Louder said.
These books help kids by showing that hospitals are not always scary as they seem.
'It doesn't need to be as scary as it is, so it's exciting to have Porter, who's a little wild, be able to take the edge off the scariness of going to the hospital. So we're really excited to be able to do that and to be able to engage with our communities.' Monument Health Community Relations Anna Whetham said.
Monument Health has read to over 56 classrooms over the past two years, with over 4,000 books given out for the students to take home–with fun homework for the parents.
'Porter the Hoarder began as a family engagement project because its a book but it's really a game. It's a game that happens to be a book. So while we're creating excitement about reading we're also creating connections in the home so when they get their own book, their own copy of parent homework, it's had great success in causing that to to mix around and have fun at home.' Covel said
Black Hills Reads has several programs set to help kids and parents engage in reading to provide a fun relationship with books.
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