There’s been a lot of controversy when it comes to being allowed to have vending machines in schools anymore. Since these machines are typically filled with unhealthy snacks, parents and administrators have been fighting for them to be filled with more nutritious options.

Well Arthur O. Eve School of Distinction #61, an elementary school located in Buffalo, New York, finally filled their vending machine with something nutritious all right. Nutritious for the brain, that is!

That’s right—the entire vending machine is filled with books for kids to read! This is one schools that’s totally changing the vending machine game.

Paperback, hard copy, fictional books, fantasy books…the machine is stacked to the brim with tons and tons of page-turners, all tucked neatly into their little column.

The best part about the book vending machine is that instead of paying real money for a bag of chips or a chocolate bar, students from kindergarten through fourth grade can use tokens to select their book they’d like to read.

And the coins aren’t given to the students for any special reason like earning a good grade. The point is that everyone deserves to be able to have access to the books they’d like to read.

“We’re not basing it on behavior,” said School 61 Principal Parette Walker. “We’re not basing it on attendance, so that everyone will have a chance to receive a book. There will be a monthly rotation of all students.”

What’s more, any student who chooses a book from the vending machine is allowed to take it home with them to read. It’s officially their book to do with what they’d like.

The point of the whole thing is to get kids reading, and this vending machine is basically offering a library but in a new and innovative way that ids love.

“One of the biggest issues we have in this district is literacy,” said Buffalo School Board member Sharon Belton-Cottman. “If our children can read, they can survive.”

It’s a pretty big deal, and the school wants kids to know that. They even held a special ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially release the beginning of the book vending machine. Students from the school attended and practiced putting coins in the machine to get their books.

The book vending machine is thanks tot he Community Action Organization, which paid around $2,000 for the actual vending machine, and then another $1,000 on the books inside of it.

Since the books aren’t meant to be returned to the machine, a non-profit school supply store called Teacher’s Desk will continue to refill the books and keep the machine stocked.

Even authors are willing to donate their own books to the good cause. “We’d be happy to donate copies of our YA Galactic Football League series—who do we contact?” Scott Sigler posted on Twitter.

The best part of all is that the kids are absolutely loving this addition to their school, and might even motivate them to want to read.

“Very cool,” a third-grader at the school named Carmen said. “Now, I get to get books for free. I’m very excited.”

What do you think of the book vending machine? Wouldn’t you have loved to have this at your school when you were a kid?