A teacher in central Vietnam has come up with a special idea to encourage his students to read by putting books in bookcases installed on trees around their school’s campus.

Nguyen Duc Lanh, principal of the Truong Son Elementary School in the mountainous town of Truong Son in Quang Binh province’s Quang Ninh District, has installed five bookcases around trees on his school’s campus since last December.

Lanh said most students at the school are from the Van Kieu minority group and many of them face very difficult circumstances.

The books are bought out of the school’s teachers’ pockets and donations, and new books are usually added at the end of each month.

The school also put benches under the trees so that students can easily take books from the bookcases, which look like bird nests, and sit on them to read.

The bookcases have been well-received by students in the school.

“Since we have had the bookcases, I read books from there whenever we have break time,” Ho Thi Linh Nga, a fifth grader, said. “My favorite kinds are books on animals and comics.”

“First and second graders aren’t good at reading so they often ask us to read for them,” she added. “They’re really into it.”

The school is planning to call on people to donate more books for students.

“I wish every tree in the school would have a bookcase like this,” principal Lanh excitedly said. “The whole campus will be full of books.”