Media Credit: Stephen Durda Karen Devane, education coordinator for the Gardner Betts Leadership Academy, speaks about the Second Chance Books program.

Devo Carpenter's little boy was in big trouble. After thoughtlessly boarding his school bus with a shiny, new set of throwing knives, care of a doting uncle, the PTA vice president's 12-year-old son suddenly found himself with a one-way ticket to the Gardner Betts Juvenile Justice Center.

"I just couldn't believe it," Carpenter said. "When I was growing up you would have only got a slap on the wrist, but these days everything is zero tolerance."

Carpenter never asked for her new-found acquaintance with the juvenile justice system. But touring Gardner Betts, the avid reader and Austin Public Library youth specialist couldn't help but notice that something was painfully lacking - books.

"I found that there were holes," she said. "The detention center didn't have a library."

Next door, the Gardner Betts Leadership Academy did have a library, but Carpenter discovered that the Academy's collection of almost entirely donated publications left much to be desired.

"I'll never forget it," she said. "The first time I walked in there, staring at me on the bookshelf was 'What to do if You Have Prostate Cancer.' I thought, 'Oh my God! This is wrong!'"

Carpenter began talking with the center's educational director about obtaining books for a new and improved browsing collection.

"It just makes sense that if you put good literature in their hands, something that they actually want to read, then they're going to read it."

Soon the volunteer and advocacy group Friends of the Austin Public Library was on board, and in 2003 the Second Chance Books program was born.

Since its inception, the program has grown into one of the library's most compelling success stories. It has received numerous awards, including the 2005 Hotho Literacy Award and the 2006 Texas Library Association Project of the Year award. In March, bestselling author James Patterson awarded Second Chance Books with a $5,000 PageTurner grant.

The Gardner Betts Juvenile Justice Center is not your average detention center. The 108-bed facility on South Congress recedes unassumingly from the hustle and bustle traffic of a shopping center across the street. Walking into one building of the complex, visitors surrender the contents of their pockets while being poked and prodded by security guards equipped with familiar black and yellow wands. Set foot into the academy next door, however, and dioramas evoking scenes from classics like "Little Women" and "Gulliver's Travels" offer a surreal welcome with open, super-glued, Popsicle-stick arms.

Continued...

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