Teaching isn’t for wimps.
I know, I was out there. I spent a year teaching middle school kids with learning disabilities and behavior disorders. (I know ALL middle schoolers exhibit crazy behavior at some point, but these guys truly had special needs.)
One of the highlights of my year in teaching was getting my kids excited about books (shock!). I’ll never forget the day I went to visit one of my notorious students in ISS (in-school suspension) and found him nose-in-book! Sure, he was trapped in a small room for six hours, but he actually told me he liked the story.
For a kid who rarely cracked a book cover, that was huge.
So when my friend Michelle told me about a friend of hers who is teaching in a county alternative school, I took interest. The poor thing is stuck out in the annex of the old middle school without access to a library.
How can she get kids excited about books if there isn’t a library?
This teacher gets book donations from friends, unfortunately a ton of Twilight… nothing against Stephenie Meyer, but… To provide a quality learning experience, this teacher needs classroom sets of great young adult literature. But how can she get them?
Author Joy Jones had a nice piece in the September/October issue of the SCBWI Bulletin encouraging writers to embrace the practice of giving books for charity. She highlighted the following resources; I scoured their sites for details.
Resources for acquiring books to share with kids in need
Barnes and Noble:
Barnes and Noble offers sponsorships to organizations that meet “the Barnes and Noble mission” and the following criteria:
- Organization must be in a community with a Barnes and Noble store
- Organization must serve the greater good of the community
- Partnerships should include in-store events, visibility, and a wide reach.
Visit barnesandnobleinc.com.
First Book:
Strives to give educators access to high quality books and materials for children in need.
- Has given over 120 million books to children from low-income families
- 97% of all revenue goes directly to providing new books to children in need
- Partners with schools serving low-income students (these schools usually have pitiful funding)
To apply to First Book for resources, you will need:
- Taxpayer ID
- Proof of non-profit status or letter stating your organization serves children from low-income families
- The percentage of low-income children served by your organization (as demonstrated by the number of children eligible for free lunch, food stamps, Medicaid, etc.). First Book usually requires that 70% of children be low-income or that the school is a Title 1 school.
To receive books: http://www.firstbook.org/receive-books
Help and FAQ: http://help.firstbook.org/
National Home Library Foundation:
Grants money for books and other reading materials to libraries and community groups with limited resources. They accept grants year round and evaluate applications in the fall and spring. Grants range from $500 to $5000, with the average being $2000.
To apply for a grant, you must provide:
- A statement of need and an explanation of how the grant will help
- Expected results
- A detailed proposed budget
- Proof of tax exempt status
Applying for a grant: http://homelibraryfoundation.org/how_to_apply
General Info: http://homelibraryfoundation.org/home
Joy Jones Online: The Story Gift Project
Ms. Jones has published multiple children’s books, including Tambourine Moon. Her charity work has provided over 600 books to schools in her area, even though she isn’t a millionaire. She started The Story Gift Project to encourage more young readers. Unfortunately, when I went to her site, the link to The Story Gift Project didn’t work. I will try to contact her and update this post with relevant information ASAP.
Do your part to make sure all kids have access to quality books
- Share this post, especially with educators and people who work for non-profits that serve kids
- Consider donating to First Book, the National Home Library Foundation, or The Story Gift Project
Do you know of other organizations that help get books into kids’ hands? Please share!
Thanks for stopping by.
Julia
The Pajama Project connects kids in foster homes with new pajamas and a new book – things that so many kids have and are accustomed to at bedtime in their home. But for a kid in a foster situation, this can be difficult to produce.
Sorry – it’s the Pajama Program. My mistake. You can find more info at http://pajamaprogram.org/.
Lisa, this is great! Exactly the kind of thing I was looking for. Sorry it took me so long to respond- my time isn’t my own these days. The Pajama Program sounds wonderful- perhaps the subject of another blog post for the holiday season. Thanks for coming back and sharing.