Every third-grader in Mansfield now has a brand new, age-appropriate dictionary, compliments of the Mansfield Elks Club.

The Elks went out and purchased about 390 dictionaries at approximately $4 per book. The dictionaries are personal gifts to the current third-graders, and the children can keep them as special keepsakes as they head into fourth grade, rather than turning them in at the end of the school year.

The bright yellow dictionary, entitled “The Best Dictionary for Students” is an easy-to-read dictionary which offers brief definitions of each word, making it very user-friendly for its 8- and 9-year-old recipients.

Judy Blackader, Malcolm Smith, and Diane Owens, all officers of the Mansfield Elks Club, were on hand at Tuesday night’s School Committee meeting to formalize the gift.

In return, Kate Kristenson and Kathy Podesky, co-principals of the Jordan/Jackson Elementary School, presented them with personal thank-you letters from many of the children, as well as a framed picture.

Blackader said that across the country, chapters of the Elks Club had begun giving books to entire grades of kids several years ago, and nationwide, more than two million books have been distributed. The project was first started by a woman in South Carolina in 1995, she said. In many cases, the dictionary was the first and only book that some children could call their own.

Smith said that, in Massachusetts, the statewide president of the Elks had been a teacher, and that had also been an impetus in getting the Elks involved in the contribution to schoolchildren.

The Mansfield Elks plan to make this the first of an annual donation of dictionaries to the town’s third- graders, so the current second-graders can look forward to their special book next year.

Blackader said that she would like to find books with more “civics” - specific information about how the government works - for next year’s donation.

“This is an important project for literacy and for children,” Blackader said.