Some vending machines offer bottles of Coca Cola.
Others, sugary sweets.
The newest vending machine at Soleng Tom Elementary School on Tucson’s east side, forgoes the snacks and provides opportunities to learn instead.
The TUSD school recently installed a book vending machine for the new year.
Students earn dragon bucks (a dragon being the school mascot), which they can eventually exchange for a coin that will give them access to any book within the machine.
The machine is meant to encourage a love for reading, according to a post on the Tucson Unified School District Facebook page.
And while the vending machine is new to the school, book vending machines are not necessarily new to Tucson.
In 2019, Homer Davis Elementary School in the Flowing Wells Unified District had one installed. Our Mother of Sorrows Catholic School, on Tucson’s east side, also received a book vending machine this year.