It’s a book many students have kept into their adult lives.

For the 29th year,  Hays Optimist Club members are distributing free paperback dictionaries to Ellis County sixth graders and their teachers.

Project chairman Gary Wentling says 313 Merriam Webster dictionaries will be handed out Monday, November 4, to sixth graders in Hays, Ellis and Victoria schools.

“We’ve given out more than 10,700 dictionaries,” says Wentling.  “Our project is funded by the annual sales of natural Christmas trees by the Optimist Club.”

The lot will open the day after Thanksgiving, November 29, in the Hays Wal-Mart parking lot.