Encouraging Literacy

In the fall of 2007 I came across a website called Book Club Works (it is no longer in service). In short the purpose of the site was to put schools and other organizations in need of books in contact with people and groups wanting to help out by providing new or used books.

Through this group, I contacted an English Teacher from a school in the Los Angeles Unified School District. After a few email discussions about her classroom needs a notice was sent out to the Book-in-a-week group asking for interested parties.

A small group of us pooled our funds and were able to donate $490 for new books as well as a small selection of used books. In total, 107 books were sent to the school. I would like to acknowledge and thank those who participated but also respect their privacy. Many thanks to: RH, HS, MR, KH, LW, BS, CB, LR, CW, FW, EH, ED, AB, LB, CM, CS, CK, GO, MW for their time, donations and patience. Special thanks to KH.

It took a lot longer than expected to organize the collection of funds but the books were ordered through Amazon.com in January 2008. Most of the books were on promotion for “buy 4 get 1 free” which provided a huge savings. We saved almost $200 with the discount and supersaver shipping. The complete order came to $489.02. Couldn’t get much closer than that!

Here is a listing of the books we sent:

• Black Like Me
• Don’t You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey
• Fallen Angels
• I have Lived a Thousand Years: Growing Up in the Holocaust
• Island of the Blue Dolphins
• The Secrets of a Fire King
• The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds
• Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
• Life of Pi
• Chinese Cinderella
• Gathering Blue
• Luna
• Necessary Roughness
• Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of a Cultural Revolution
• Romiette and Julio
• Tears of Tiger
• The Afterlife
• Let the Circle Be Unbroken
• Z is for Zachariah
• Almost a Woman
• Carmello
• The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to his White Mother
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in Night-Time
• The Firm
• The Poisonwood Bible
• The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
• The Worse-case Scenario Survival Handbook
• Then Again, Maybe I Won’t
• Seabiscuit
• Angela’s Ashes
• I Know Why a Caged Bird Sings
• Castle of Wizardry
• Cold Mountain
• Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
• The Giver
• Lives of a Cell
• Ender’s Game
• A Lesson Before Dying

The English Teacher sent us a few pictures of the books and some of her students reading:

Here are the nice cards the English Teacher and her lovely students sent (You can click on the image for a large view). The last names of the students are blocked out to protect their privacy:

(FYI: These cards are from artist Deborah DeWit-Marchant’s reading series. She also has a writing series if you are interested. Visit Deborah DeWit-Marchant’s official website.)

We all hope that the current and future readers of these books will get great delight from reading them.

Best wishes,

Moe
BIW Moderator
Book-in-a-week.com