“Books have a singular power to inspire and change people’s lives” and the organization Reader to Reader exists to provide those books to the people who need them most.
Here is an alarming stat:
60% of underprivileged children do not own a single book.
Consequently, Reader to Reader believes that “a well-stocked school library [is] a critical resource hub that is a necessity not a luxury,” and by devising an efficient collection and distribution method for the millions of books that are discarded every year they provide the neediest libraries with the material they need most.
Their target libraries are school libraries in our country’s poorest neighborhoods which include many inner city schools, Native American reservations and poor rural towns.
They do their homework to find out which schools have below average test scores, low per student spending, and a high percentage of students from low-income families. They then contact the school librarian to find out what is needed and then they go to work.
Major Reader To Reader initiatives are underway in Bridgeport, Connecticut; Louisiana, rural Mississippi, Detroit, Michigan; Massachusetts; rural Maine; the Navajo Reservation; and Compton, California.
Two new schools are added every month. When a new school is added they immediately get a shipment of 300-400 books, they then receive monthly shipments catering to their specific needs. Currently over 300 under-resourced library’s receive help from Reader to Reader.
Also of note: Over 1,000,000 books have been supplied to help rebuild school libraries devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
Reader to Reader was founded in the fall of 2002 by David Mazor and is headquartered on the campus of Amherst College.
Supporters include: Writers Barry Lopez, Peter Matthiessen, Steven and Tabitha King, Robert Stone and John Logan, and actors Paul Newman and John Larroquette.
There is significant corporate support as well including help from publishers Random House and FSG.
And there is bookseller support too. The Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (ABAA), Ken Lopez -Bookseller (who’s pitch for Reader to Reader in a recent catalog got my attention) and Barnes and Noble have all helped and yours truly donated money to Reader To Reader this past holiday season.
List of schools being served