After 14 months, we had our first book fair while hitting a 500,000 book-giveaway milestone! It took us four years to get here, happening at South Philadelphia's John H. Taggart Elementary School - 2,100 books given away! We will hit a million in under two years.

Scroll through the pics and see Exective Director Larry Abrams receiving from board member Janet Edelstein a BIG BOOK celebrating a BIG NUMBER!

Look for Larry next to David Hensel, a teacher-visionary at Taggart determined to grant each child at Taggart a 50-book library of their own. Teachers, write to larry@booksmiles.org if you share David's vision.
And finally, see young readers selecting their own books! Together we can create the next generation of
Nobel Prize winners!
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Visit our website to see how you can irrigate book deserts by redistributing book-wealth! www.booksmiles.org

We need a delivery truck, now that we're palletizing massive amounts of children's books to give to our partners and picking up 10,000 donated books at a time.  Hundreds of babies and kids living in book deserts will be able to have dozens of books of their own.

Do you know people and organizations who can partner with us?  We are open to co-branding for particularly generous sponsors.  This is a truck that will be eventually be seen by hundreds of thousands of people!

BookSmiles is based out of Cherry Hill, NJ. So it's extra-special when Mayor Susan Shin Angulo and Captain Glatz help open our latest location at the Cherry Hill Municipal Building. Here we are with board members Kathy Bay Judge and Mel Zimmerman. Clear off all those children's books collecting dust! Don't let them get yellow and brittle!
Take larger donations (several cases/books for adults included) to the Booksmiles Book Bank- 1879 Old Cuthbert Road,#33 in Cherry Hill to our 24/7 collection bin.

Here's something new with our distribution! Karen, our Program Coordinator, gave away over 1,500 books to employees at the Jacent Strategic Merchandising Distribution Facility in Cinnaminson. Many employees have children and grandchildren whose schools are full remote. Why should kids go without books?!
Want to spread free books in a business, like Karen? Ask us how. Contact karen@booksmiles.org

Brenda Fitzgerald of Williamstown NJ recently created a Little Free Library
in memory of her sweet girl Mary Ann. Her husband built it and her sister painted it. Zoom in on the art!
Brenda's community donated so many books that she quickly ran out of room, so she passed the overflow along to BookSmiles. Please contact us if you can help irrigate book deserts. We have tens of thousands of books you can pass along to children in need.

​https://www.facebook.com/maryannslittlefreelibrary/

​HUGE MILESTONE ALERT!
Willingboro, New Jersey educator Sherri Bresette Ahlers went big, telling us that she needed 12,000 books in one swoop. Here are pick-up pics (thanks Derek and Anthony for loading 6 packed pallets). Sherri and her colleagues will distribute the books to thousands of kids in the district before the holidays. A leader in the BookSmiles tribe, Sherri also installed a permanent bin in front of her home in Lawrenceville, NJ.
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If libraries and bookstores are somewhat holy places for you, then you understand what we do and our mission to spread book wealth to book deserts. Please give and help with $ or books. Hit the DONATE tab here: https://www.booksmiles.org/

Charles Ellison, thank you for helping amplify our mission: irrigating book deserts! Have a listen!

We are so grateful to have an active network of educators and social workers taking books to give away to the children they serve. These are people who have the infrastructure to safely and efficiently distribute books to several hundred students.  And we've had a legion of daycare providers taking board-books to families with babies! Featured here are Amanda Fry, an elementary school principal in Beverly, NJ, Dan McVay, a social worker supervisor for Philadelphia, and 6,000 books waiting to be loaded onto a truck headed to the Camden School District.

Dear Unitarian Universalist Church in Cherry Hill
,
A few months ago, Jo-Ann Engle approached us, declaring that the Community Outreach Workers group would collect 2,020 children's books, to shed light during a terrible year. Look closely at the number-signage held up here. They blew the goal away with 3,608 books!
Other houses of worship will see your good work and hopefully match what you've done. Yes, WE CAN literally collect a ton of books during a pandemic and distribute to children in need.

Churches, synagogues, temples, mosques - want to do a drive? E-mail karen@booksmiles.org for more info.
Very gratefully,
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Larry Abrams
Founder, BookSmiles
www.booksmiles.org

Since your child can't have a traditional birthday, do what Sidney did for his seventh! Let us know here if you like the idea, and SHARE/TAG the post that helps BookSmiles spread book-ownership!

Dear Sidney,
Happy birthday! Thank you so much using your party to do a contactless book drive on your front porch. Your friends and family gathered hundreds of gently used books that will soon go into the hands and homes of babies and kids who have few, if any, of their own.
Instead of asking for presents, you raised over $250, of which $170 gets donated to BookSmiles, with the rest going to your gift card. Way to use the
Kids Can Give Too app. 

http://kidscangivetoo.com/charity/booksmiles
Thanks for inspiring others and for helping to spread book-wealth!

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