Nearly 100 UFT members and their families gathered up free books for their classrooms and home libraries on Feb. 1 at a First Book event for Staten Island members at the UFT's Staten Island borough office. The UFT's partnership with First Book, the nonprofit organization, brings free books to communities and children who might not otherwise have access to them. "Whether they had five books or 50 books," said UFT Staten Island Borough Representative Analia Gerard, "everybody who walked out of there walked out happy." Gerard said one member picked books to stock a lunchroom library because students can't go outside during lunch when it rains. Latifa Benson, a teacher at PS 65 in the Tompkinsville section of the borough, chose books for guided reading and possibly to start a book club. "Some students have mentioned they saw the movie 'Aladdin,' so I grabbed that book," she said.