Books for Charity

As we all know, advance copies of books tend to pile up.  Finished copies are easy to donate or to sell through your local used bookstore, but advance copies are different.  Many places don't accept them and they are not for sale.  I know that many people sell their copies, but for me that's not a choice that I feel good about.

I have given these books away in various settings, but most recently I have seen these copies in my local used bookstore and that makes me very uncomfortable.  Still, there's the problem of these copies piling up and gathering dust and wanting new readers.

I decided to start a fundraising page at First Book.  Here's what they say about themselves:

Learning to read is critical to a child’s success – both in school and in life. Literacy is one of the best predictors of a child’s future success. But a child without access to books won’t have the chance to become an engaged and capable reader.

This is the reality for children who are growing up in poverty; books are scarce. 

• 80 percent of the pre-schools and after school programs serving children in need do not have a single book for the children they serve.
• In some of the lowest-income neighborhoods in the country there is only one book available for every 300 children.

At First Book, our innovative approaches tackle the single biggest barrier to the development of literacy – access to books.

To date, First Book has provided more than 85 million books to children in need, increasing access to needed materials for educators and administrators, and helping to elevate educational opportunities for our nation’s most disadvantaged youth.

But that’s just the beginning – our successes, while impressive, have only reached a small fraction of the population in need in the United States. We have more work to do, more audiences to reach, more educators and administrators to empower, and ultimately more children who need books and quality educational opportunities – and we cannot do it alone.

We don’t want to fight illiteracy – we want to end it. By working together, we can and will create a generation of lifelong readers and achievers.

Here's how this will work.  Donations may be of any amount, however, for each $5 an individual donates they will be able to choose a book from the list of available books.  Donate $5, get one book; donate $10, get two, etc.

You will need to pay for postage, but shipping via MediaMail is very inexpensive, starting at $2.41 per pound.  Since these are paperbacks the shipping should be cheap.

These ARC's are all over 6 months past their publication date.  The list will be updated as I receive additional books and the 6 months time-frame has passed.

I will ask that you pay for shipping costs (which should be inexpensive as I use media mail).

Here's what to do:

1. Visit my fundraising page
2. Make a donation
3. If you've donated at least $5, take a look at the list of books you can choose and pick what you like
4. Send me an email at [chaotic compendiums at yahoo dot com] with your book choice(s) and your address and we'll go from there.  All transactions for shipping will be done through PayPal.

I think this is a great way for all of us to help spread the love of reading!