Mrs. Brittney Cairns, an English teacher at Cathedral Catholic High School, has created an online community for students to increase their literary curiosity in order to better develop reading skills.

“I want people to understand that there are plenty of good books out there,” said Mrs. cairns. “We have some really good material up right now.”

The CCHS Bookshelf takes place exclusively via Instagram, attracting more than 100 followers since its inception four weeks ago. The account’s missions to create an accessible forum for people to share their ideas about literary culture. Currently, the account is posting book suggestions from Mrs. Cairns’s personal collection of favorites.

The account can be found on Instagram at @cchsbookshelf.

Cairns, who teaches English to sophomores and juniors, attributes her passion for literature to her time spent in the United Kingdom while in college.

“The people and culture are really important to me,” Cairns said. “I learned so much while I was there, especially about literature.”

Online suggestions are not the club’s only plans. For example, the Bookshelf also wishes to host meetings and other events to draw attention to its purpose.

“We have future plans to have March Madness Book Brackets,” Cairns said. “I also want to get authors on campus in the next school year.”

So far, students are reacting positively to the account.

“I think it’s a really cool idea,” CCHS Sarah Wagner ’18 said. “I don’t read that much, but I am seeing a lot of suggestions on the account page that I want to check out.”

The Bookshelf has material from a wide range of authors and genres.

“I think a big part of this project is that we are posting books that aren’t what you would expect an English teacher to recommend,” Cairns said. “These are real books that are interesting to all groups.”

While the attention surrounding the Bookshelf is currently on the rise, the account expects to remain relevant until the next year.

“It being so close to summer, I normally would be losing interest in school related things like this,” Wagner said. “But this idea is different because it doesn’t feel so rigid as a lot of other things do.”