Calling All Readers and Authors: Help A School, Donate Books!

 

This article about a school library has been all over my Facebook feed this week and I decided to share on here for those of you who may not have seen it.

There's a school in Nevada that hasn't had a working library for about a decade; they haven't had any new books for eight years. None. Not one. I have a hard time fathoming that. I was fortunate with my school libraries and am fortunate now with my local libraries. They had/have budget issues but there are always new materials. Now, this school's library is being restarted and they need books, movies, and music. From the article -

We need racially diverse books. We need graphic novels. We need women’s studies. We need science. We need series. We need film. We need comics. We need music. We need biographies of important people. Looking for Young Adult. Classics. We want zines! Contemporary. Poetry. Everything that would make a difference in a young person’s life. Writers send us YOUR BOOK.

They have an Amazon wish list, or you can send them something that you think will spark a teen's mind, have relevance to them. It can be brand new or a gently loved item from your own collection. Please, nothing in poor shape. Don't send them your trash.

I've gone through my collection of unsolicited YA review books and will be shipping them out, probably on Monday. Want to save some money on shipping and you're in the US? Check out the postal service's media mail option. It's how I send books. It can take several weeks to ship but it can be significantly cheaper than shipping first class.

Also, I love that the students have a say in the new library and are an active part of designing the space. How awesome is that? Their input is wanted and solicited and they'll be more invested in using and taking care of the space. Just wonderful. <3

ETA: All the information you need about the school and donating can be found in the original article, here.

A final word from the article -

So here’s what I’m asking. Will you donate a book? A real book. Something literary or fun—something that speaks to your truth, their truths. Something that teaches them something about the world. Makes them feel less alone?

I’m not asking for money. I’m asking for you to send a new book or film or cd to us to help us build a library we can be proud of. Just one book.

Help Rebuild Moore, Oklahoma's School Libraries

I get a ton of promo emails every week and most never make it onto the blog. But this one is for school libraries, which hits two of my buttons (kids and libraries) and will benefit Oklahoma which has been badly hit by Mother Nature this spring. I'm not familiar with Capstone Young but I've seen ads for their books in PW so I'm hoping their legit.

From their press release:

Help Rebuild Oklahoma's School Libraries

Buy a Book, Give a Book

In light of the horrible tornadoes that devastated the city of Moore, Oklahoma, Capstone Young Readers is lending its support to help the town recover and rebuild. For every book purchased on www.CapstoneYoungReaders.com, Capstone Young Readers will donate a book of equal value to help rebuild the school libraries in Moore, Oklahoma.

Simply enter the code MooreRelief in the promotion field when you checkout at www.CapstoneYoungReaders.com.

When the schools in Moore are ready to receive new books, Capstone Young Readers will send a shipment of books to fill the school libraries.

More book censorship at US schools

As summer ends here in the US, schools are resuming classes. In my area of the US, most schools are resuming in the next few weeks while in other areas school has already begun. This means curriculum are being re-evaluated and last minute decisions made. Not surprisingly, this is the time of year when bannings and challenges increase.

Last month, Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s Slaughterhouse-Five and Sarah Ockler's Twenty Boy Summer were removed from Republic High School in Republic, Mo. (This same school system has been in the news recently for making a middle grade female student apologize to the male student who raped her. Seems to me this school has serious issues.) You may have heard about Vonnegut Library's response, an absolutely AWESOME one in my opinion - they offered free copies to any of the 150 students who were originally meant to read the book in class. The cost of the books is being covered by an anonymous donor.

Down in Virginia, Sherlock Homes came under fire. The Albemarle County School District removed the Sherlock Holmes mystery A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle from a sixth-grade reading list this summer. Why? Parents complained that the book portrays Mormons in a negative light, according to Matt Haas, executive director of the county's schools. Now, I haven't read that one so I can't speak to that claim but it seems to me that the administrators passed up what we in education call "a teachable moment". The book was on the reading list as an introduction to the mystery genre, but it could also have served as chance to examine the portrayal of religion in historical fiction, an author's responsibility for factual accuracy; intentional bigotry versus unintentional bigotry, reading historical texts  from a contemporary perspective, and so on. The teaching possibilities are practically endless. Study of the book could have been incorporated into history, social studies, literature, and ethics to name a few. The book was moved to the ninth grade reading list and replaced on the sixth grade list with a different Sherlock Holmes book, The Hound of the Baskervilles.

Remember that Banned Book Week, the ALA's annual observation and celebration of banned books and an individual's right to choose their reading material, is coming up in a little over a month. It runs September 24th through October 1st. I have something planned on the blog for every day of the observation.