As the holiday season jumps into full swing this December many of us are considering sharing gifts with needy children and families. This is a wonderful opportunity to share books with kids and teens, and I highly recommend it!
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Also, as authors/illustrators, and friends of authors/illustrators, we should consider that when we share books with kids at Christmas (which is the most important part of the giving - getting the books into the hands of kids,) that in addition to giving copies of the most popular books of the year like "
Across the Universe" - Congrats to
SCBWI Carolinas' own Beth Revis!," and
The Hunger Games Trilogy, and "
Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Cabin Fever," we can also help get books by authors we know into the hands of kids as well! When one child reads a book and loves it, that child generally talks about the book to other children, and word about the book spreads. More kids get their hands on the book - a book that may not yet have made the New York Times Best Seller list, but that may show that child or teen a beautiful fantasy world that they can escape to, or a wonderful `true to life' story that they can see themselves in, or a picture book that gets their imagination soaring. Not all of the great books published over the past few years have yet made the New York Times Best Seller list. So giving books by authors you know is both a gift to the kids and a gift to that author.
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So I'd strongly encourage all the authors and illustrators out there to share a currently popular book from 2011 with kids and teens in need, and also to wrap that book up in red ribbon with a wonderfully written, possibly not-yet-as-famous book by an author or illustrator you know, as well!
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Let's spread the best-selling YA/MG/Children's books, and also the wonderful other books that we all know exist out there, to kids and teens in need!
If you know of a great book you've read, by an author you know, that you'd like to recommend this Christmas, please post a comment with the name of the book, author, and a brief plot summary, below : )..
Here are some great nonprofits and government agencies that desperately need your book donations for kids in the U.S. this holiday season:
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1.)
Toys for Tots: (Click the link to find a drop box near you.)
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2.)
Your local children's hospital: (Check the phone book. Many kids' hospital units have a bookshelf and would love new books for teens and younger kids this year.)
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3.)
Your local Department of Social Services Foster Care Department: (Check the government listings in your phone book. Many Foster Care programs have Angel Trees with specific toys and clothes requested by the kids in foster care each year, but many of these kids only get 1 or 2 gifts. So often these programs also accept extra donations, like books, to suppliment those gifts. Change the world a little bit by putting books into the hands of kids who are not able to live with their parents this year!
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4.)
Your local Domestic Violence Shelter or Women and Children's Homeless Shelter: Domestic Violence Shelters and Family Homeless Shelters offer temporary housing to kids, teens, and parents in distressing life situations. Most of these programs have a bookshelf sparsely populated with old, falling-apart books. They need more! They need new ones! Check out your local phone listings to contact the shelter near you.
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I hope we'll all share at least two books with kids and teens in need this year. Share one that's famous. Share one that's not - yet. And wrap them up together with a big red ribbon.
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Happy Holidays to all the writers, illustrators, kids, and teen readers out there. May it be a wonderful December for everyone!
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