BATON ROUGE — Merrydale Elementary School debuted its new book vending machine on Wednesday.

Students can earn coins for the machine by meeting academic and behavioral goals in the classroom. The alumni chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority will provide the books. School officials hope the new machine will inspire kids to have a love for reading. 

"This is an amazing opportunity for our kids and for us; it helps all of us, and it gives our students access. And I think for us, that's the most important thing our students need access to good books, good materials," Principal Casey Wells said.

The machine holds more than 200 books.