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Last week Facebook was all a’buzz over a story of a Alameda County library who threw over 100,000 children’s books into a dumpster. Residents were enraged when they found out many of the books were only a few years old and he thought of such wastefulness did not sit well with the community. The library defended it’s decision, but the result was a pretty interesting dialogue nationwide.

Read the full story HERE.

So what would YOU have done with those 100,000 books? We asked that question to our moms/authors/bloggers in our Multicultural Children’s Book Day Group and the ideas and discussion did not disappoint. Here are some of the highlights:

There were other perspectives as well…and good ones too:

What would you have done with those 100K books? Here are some ideas on book swapping and donating that Jump Into a Book has enjoyed in the past:

1. Save for Book or Treat!

Grab our free Book or Treat Community Kit here.

2. Utilize Events like International Book Giving Day and others to get books into the hands of kids.

3. Donate to important organizations like women’s shelters,schools or  Books for Africa.

4. Create a “Friends of the Library” chapter in your community. These chapters work to sell the unwanted books through community book sales and the money goes back into buying new books. What ideas do you have?

The post WEEKEND LINKS: What Would YOU do with 100K Books? appeared first on Jump Into A Book.

It’s February 14th and time to celebrate!   Besides giving chocolate or candy for Valentine’s Day, do consider joining in the International Book Giving Day celebrations and showing some love by giving a child a new, used or borrowed book! International Book Giving Day is a volunteer initiative aimed at increasing children’s access to and enthusiasm for books.

• Most children in developing countries do not own books.
• In the United Kingdom, one-third of children do not own books.
• In the United States, two-thirds of children living in poverty do not own books.

International Book Giving Day’s focus is on encouraging people worldwide to give a book to a child on February 14th. Individuals are invited to 1) give a book to a friend or family member, 2) leave a book in a waiting room for children to read, or 3) donate a gently used book to a local library, hospital or shelter or to an organization that distributes used books to children in need internationally.

In addition, people are encouraged to support the work of nonprofit organizations (i.e. charities) that work year round to give books to children, such as Room to Read, Books for Africa, Book Aid International, The Book Bus, Indigenous Literacy Foundation, Pratham Books and PaperTigers’ WaterBridge Outreach~  Books + water: nourishing the mind and body.

As soon as I frost my Valentine’s Day cake, I’ll be heading out to my local library to drop off a bag of gently read children’s and YA books.  Show your love and get involved too! International Book Giving Day is truly an international holiday and last year was celebrated by people in Australia, Canada, South Africa, France, India, Ireland, Japan, the Phillippines, Spain, Turkey, the UK and the US! Visit the International Book Giving Day website, facebook page or twitter account (#giveabook) to see how others are celebrating and share your plans.

We have three large open bookcases in our family room that were stuffed over capacity with books and knick knacks. I dust them regularly, but it really isn’t enough to get all the crud that settles on top of the pages and under the books. So I decided to take everything off the shelves, clean them thoroughly, donate the books we never plan to use again and reorganize the shelves. This was massive labor. And I just want to say, thank God for dust masks!

Nice BIG pile of books to be donated!

What I didn’t count on, was the wonderful walk down memory lane this process would generate. I took books from my Mom’s house after she passed away three years ago, and most of them once belonged to my Father. (He died in 1975 when I was 14.) It was enlightening to look through the books he cherished, most from the 1960’s. While thumbing through his titles on architecture, psychology and business, I realzed just how inteliggent my Dad was and just how much the world has changed since I was a child. I was excited to find his signature in one of the books as well as a few notes from people who gave him various volumes.I am so grateful that he was a lover of art, because I now have an impressive collection of full color coffee table art books – Renoir, Picasso, Monet, Da Vinci and more. I am curious about the value of the 2 Beatles Illustrated Lyrics books from 1971 that belonged to my Dad as well. He was a huge Beatles fan, and looking at these books reminded me of how he used to play Beatles records in the living room while I twirled around in circles. I was about 4 years old!

One of the books I forgot I had was a collection of hippie-like poems and photos from one of my Dad’s former business partners. I wouldn’t have even remembered he gave it to me if it weren’t for the note he wrote to me inside the front cover. I think I’ll look him up on line and see if he’s still alive.

One of the best finds was a stash of pressed leaves and flowers I discovered in an old encyclopedia at the bottom of a tall stack of piled volumes. These clippings were collected on a walk I took with my daughter down the alleys in our neighborhood one spring when she was about 3 years old. She is now a freshman in college, so I guess no one ever moved or opened those books in the past 15 years!Among the other treasures I discovered inside some of the books were an old grocery list I made for a Thanksgiving dinner about 12 years ago, a beautiful bookmark with flowers and quotes on it, I forgot I ever had, and an old photo of my Grandfather, Joe.

I decided it was time to pass on a bunch of the books we no longer need – trivia books, novels we’ve read, yesterday’s business books and a few books we never finished reading due their boring nature. (Just cuz a book is published, doesn’t mean it is well written!)

But I was unable to part with my college English books – short stories, poems and plays – all with notes written in the margins. My husband and I both kept our massive-sized Complete Works of Shakespeare and have no intention of ever getting rid of them.  However, I had to part with a partially shattered art project my daughter made in 3rd grade. It was a plaque with her name on it, made from unfired pottery.

Now I only hope that whoever inherits my old volumes will enjoy them as much as we have.

“Any Book is a New Book if You Have

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Most of us take the public library for granted. It’s just THERE whenever we need it. But, for readers in a remote region of Africa, the library comes to them via camel.

The Camel Library began operating in October 1996. The bush where the camels go is otherwise impassable. These days, 12 camels (and librarians) make their way through the bush to four settlements every day, four days a week.

Now that’s dedication!

The Camel Library needs more books, and the National Writing for Children Center is going to see that they get them.

Every month we will send books that we have received for review (after the reviews are written, of course). Suzanne Lieurance will also send the books she receives from authors who are her guests on her weekday afternoon talk show, Book Bites for Kids.

If you’re a children’s author or illustration and would like to have your book reviewed by the National Writing for Children Center - and know that the book will eventually find its way halfway around the world for children who might never have a chance to read it otherwise - send your book(s) via regular mail (since UPS will NOT deliver to a p.o. box) to:

The National Writing for Children Center
P.O. Box 8422
Kansas City, Missouri 64114

NotCot.org...definitely not your normal design spot. Wowee. I could spend way too much time there.