High School Book Drive

This post is a reblog.  I don't normally do reblogs, but this one is important.  Please read:

Danielle over at Frenzy of Noise wrote a post about a high school who only had 63 books in their library. So I decided to pass the word along and let everyone know that this high school desperately needs book donations. Here's the info. directly from Danielle's post:

I know I'm part of a community that bands together to stand up for literary injustice, backlash, plagiarism and everything in between. We build hashtags on twitter and give small ideas a way to be big. We're awesome.

That's why when the director of my MFA program sent us an email about a book drive, I knew I had to bring the need to my community. This community. Why? Well...
"The literature section of Ballou Senior High School's library in Washington, DC has 63 books, not enough to fill five small shelves. In the area marked "Pure Science," there are 77 volumes. The generally accepted standard for school libraries is 11 books for each of Ballou's 1,104 students." THAT'S WHY.

What they need:
Everything. From Shakespeare to Octavia Butler to Richard Wright. Fantasy, sci-fi, YA, adult fiction, history books, poetry, classic literature, science. Basically anything and everything that's suitable for high school. They will take anything as long as it is in GOOD condition and has no writing in it.

I've asked if they would accept ARCs (new and old), and the director of the book drive, Lisa, said YES. Please note however, that they really need finished copies. ARCs are fantastic, but the lasting value isn't always standing.

How to donate:
If you have books you want to give, please mail them directly to:
The Art of Living Center
International Association for Human Values
c/o Filiz Odabas-Geldiay
2401 15th St. NW
Washington, DC 20009

There should be a note inside donation boxes that says:
Green Line Initiative Book Drive
attn: Lisa Pegram
They will be accepting books until August 22!!

Also, if you'd like to include some kind of quick note for the kids, words of encouragement, that would be awesome!! But it's not mandatory.

Spread the word!

Reblog this post on your blog. Tweet this post. (we're on twitter at #HSBookDrive) Tell everyone. Send books.

I really hope you guys can all participate in some way. (Even if it's just blogging or tweeting about it.) My high school library had quite a lot of books and I was in there all the time. I'd like to help create a library like that for these kids. So let's get them some books to read!

Peace