They came with oversized bags and shopping carts, waiting patiently in the unseasonably cold weather on a line that stretched around the block.

As they filed into the schoolyard of PS 81 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, they were greeted by the sight of tables stacked with towering piles of books — 40,000 in all — to be distributed to local families, teachers and community members as the result of a partnership among the UFT, the AFT, NAACP and First Book, a nonprofit organization working to provide books to children who might not otherwise have access to them.

“You are not just handing out books,” City Councilman Robert Cornegy told the crowd of volunteers. “You are handing children their future.”

Brooklyn teachers who attended the event were eager to get their hands on a wide variety of materials. “I want them all reading,” said Denise Huggins, a librarian at PS/IS 184 in Brownsville. “I’m looking for books for struggling readers and books that will especially interest boys because we need to get them reading.”

Christine Marshall, a special education teacher at PS 208 in East Flatbush, was hoping to expand her students’ access to reading materials. “To reach all of my students, I need to start at the level they are at and lift them,” she said. “So I’m looking for many different kinds and levels of material to give that differentiated instruction.”

Parents, grandparents and their children were also enthusiastic about the selection.

“If he picks the book, then he will read it,” Cardina Araujo said about her 7-year-old son, Daren, who was excited to show her the superhero book he had picked out. Nearby, Rowen was also enamored of a Spider-Man book.

“He loves books,” said his father, Rodney Alexander. “It is a good start.”

Assemblywoman Annette Robinson applauded the union for “its efforts to encourage children to read.”

UFT Director of Parent and Community Outreach Anthony Harmon, who helped organize the event, summed up what united the day’s volunteers: “Everyone is here today because we are of one mind, one heart: Our teachers need books to help their students read and our parents need books in their homes to help their children read.”

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