CLINTON, Tenn. — Feeding the body and feeding the mind--Clinton Middle School's serving both.
"Well, I didn't really know it was going to be here until I was coming around the corner for lunch one day," student Riley Webb said. "I saw it and I said, huh, it's got books in it. It was a little bit different."
It's just a little different from the snack machine--this one's got a few more words than a nutrition label.
"When you read more books it gets your mind going," eighth grader Dashawn Mack said.
It's a book vending machine--just $1 gets you your book of choice.
"A lot of kids really like it, it's like really convenient," Mack said.
Mack picked up a book about Spider Man.
"I really have been wanting to see the movie that just came out," Mack said.
Webb grabbed a book on Shrek.
"Books always expand your imagination," Webb said.
And nothing satisfies Academic Coach April Meyers more than students using the machine.
"One student I asked, I said, 'Hey have you tried to new book vending machine?'" Meyers said. "And they're like, 'Can we really use that? I thought it was just a display.'"
It's more than that.
Meyers sent a few emails, and Five Star Food Service donated the machine.
"There's just a tremendous push to get kids on and above their grade level for reading," Meyers said.
The state's goal is to have 75 percent of Tennessee third graders reading on grade level by 2025.
Meyers has that on the menu for her middle school students.
"Just providing incentives for them, and hopefully this machine will be a part of that," Meyers said. "Just me meeting a student down here, handing them a dollar for them to buy their own book."
She hopes that will help them take a bite out of everything that's out there to learn.
"Maybe it's not nutrition for your body, but it's certainly feeding your brain," Meyers said.
The books in the machine came from the library and donations from staff.
Meyers says she's working with the librarian to keep changing out a wide variety of books.