Books for Keeps 2013 More and more and more books!

So, in 2011, BfK provided 12 books to each student in three elementary schools in Clark County, GA (Athens), as well as providing books to middle school and high school students.

In 2012, BfK provided 12 books to each student at every school in Clark County where at least 90% of the students were eligible for free or reduced price lunches. This was five schools -- which doubled the number of children getting books.

In 2013 the goal is to continue to provide books to the students of those five schools -- Alps Road, Fowler, Stroud, JJ Harris and Gaines elementary schools -- and to expand to an urban school in Atlanta and a rural school. We've tentatively chosen the new schools.

We'll need even more books! BookMooch has been a great source of books, and there are many of you who are actively looking for books for us. Thank you! And thank you all for continuing to send books. I'm looking at a heavy box from dudes22 right now. You guys are great -- not only for the books you send, but also for the consistent support, encouragement and excitement you have for Books for Keeps.

Kay - Can you please put the blog link here too? Thx

http://booksforkeeps.blogspot.com/

There it is, Betty! Your second box arrived yesterday. Yay!

I sent 2 so hopefully another one should arrive n the next couple of days.

Is there any interest in the Heartland series? My local UBS has quite a few in stock that I can pick up if there is.

http://www.librarything.com/series/Heartland

The Heartland series are not borrowed much in school unfortunately, so I wouldn't be surprised if they are not popular.

Picked up a few more books at garage sales today. Highlights included a sealed 6-pack of Fancy Nancy books and a Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever book!

I finally was able to consolidate all of the books I am sending. I took a picture of the chapter books.


Sorry for the crappy picture, I just took it with my iPhone.

From the left, the first stack includes Junie B Jones, Disney Fairies and Rainbow Magic.
Second stack includes Captain Underpants, Ricky Ricotta and Super Diaper Baby.
Third stack is all misc.
Fourth stack includes Hank Zipzer, Candy Apple and Ghostville Elementary.
Fifth stack is almost all Diary of a Wimpy Kid!
Sixth stack includes Goosebumps and Butt Wars.

Maybe I can get my mom to sponsor the postage costs! haha

Wow RainbowGirl!
Bookel - after the 2011 book distributions we evaluated leftovers to see what they had in common. We found a few themes 1) award winners with boring covers 2) historical fiction (American Girl, etc and 3) "horse-stories". For some reason, books with horses on the covers and horse-themed stories are not popular. It was a really interesting discovery though!

The discoveries on what children don't necessarily want to read are not surprising actually. Similar trends exist in school libraries, though there are some horsie readers and the occasional historical fiction and award winners borrowed (but not the boring covers).

Hi B4K Volunteers,
I just listed and reserved books for you. I've left a note for you via BookMooch as well. Feel free to mooch any or all - I'm not sure if tastes have changed lately - I just grabbed ones that were popular before, that I saw at the thrift shop today. They are all in excellent condition for used books. If you'd rather not mooch them all, don't feel as though you must. I'll send as many or as few of them, as you think the kids will enjoy. I will refund some of your points when I return from the post office and see what my costs to ship to you will be.
Thanks for all that you do,
Michelle

Thanks, Michelle. I've mooched them.

I just posted a couple of pictures of our book sale setup on our Facebook page. I wish all of you could come - it's going to be fun!

Oh my gosh... My dad called me at work yesterday to let me know that there is a book sale in someone's backyard. I dragged one of my friends there today, and while I didn't find much for me (4 books) I found *hundreds* of books for BfK. So there will be a major box or two (or three) headed down south as soon as I can gather enough funds.

There are tons of books still there. I didn't even begin to go through the childrens non-fiction. I may head back tomorrow to see what else I can find. It was insane! Picture a LARGE backyard full of books, table upon table. Children's stuff for a quarter. And tons of popular kids stuff. I was so amazed!

Wonderful! Hooray!

The book sale went really well! We had about 25,000 books to sell and managed to sell most of them, and earned more than anticipated. There were a lot of people at the sale and they were buying lots of books. We also had a teacher free-for-all, in which teachers could come and take all the books they thought they could use. I left just after that had started, but they were filling boxes as fast as they could when I left. Many families were there for the children's books and it was good to see so many kids leaving with lots to read.

I'm looking forward to the school distributions already, although there is plenty to do before then!

I'm torn between wishing I had been there to see it and wishing I had been there to buy.

ha, ha ,ha she says as the TBR topples over...

Melaney gave a shout out to BookMooch on the BfK blog:

http://booksforkeeps.blogspot.com

You know who you are.

Finally had the chance to do some thrift store shopping for the first time in months and months! I found some Captain Underpants, Disney Fairies, 39 Clues, Geronimo Stilton and more :) I sent 3 big boxes to BFK recently and a 4th will be on the way soon!

Those three boxes are going to Athens tomorrow. I am in awe of the quality of the books inside. And that you found enough Captain Underpants to supply an entire class!

Dudes22, your boxes are also going to Athens tomorrow. Sunday is a giant book sort (don't you all wish you could be there? It's dusty and hard on the back, but very satisfying) and so your books will all be sorted and packed into boxes ready for the Spring distribution.

Yesterday, at the library book sale (Adult books .50 cents, kids .25!) I found a large print edition of Mockingjay! also, about 35 Manga Books of various titles, in great condition, some of which I will keep, most going to Books for Keeps! Plus, any a large number of other kid books. I think I walked away with at least 100 books from this booksale, most going to BFKs! I hope I can get away from house stuff to get to the bag sale before the sale ends :)

It is completely insane how many books I have to ship... Now I just need to find a couple of boxes the right size!

That's fantastic, DO!

Just got the latest box sealed up. It's HEAVY! My husband estimates 40-45lbs. It's packed super tight with books. :)

We had a shopping date night tonight, and I convinced him to go to Value Village with me. They're not my favorite place to shop for books, because their chapter books are 99 cents which is a little higher than most of the other thrift stores, but they do buy 4 get the 5th free, so it's not bad... but better yet, their employees frequently ring up the books as being picture books which makes them only 69 cents each :) I haven't been there in awhile, but I can't remember last time anyone at any of their locations charged me the proper price :)

A nice surprise was they had a bunch of Daisy Meadows Fairy books that were actually in great condition! Those things (and Junie B Jones) are so flimsy that when I see them in the thrift stores, they are usually too beat up to use for BFK.

Had so much fun seeing what Ridgeway Girl brought from Greenville, and opening DivineOomba's many boxes - thanks y'all!

I have more boxes.... Now that I am vacation, they will actually get sent on Monday :)

My husband is a good weight guesser... got the latest box mailed out today, 45lbs!

I always enjoy opening your boxes, Becca, so much! And when I brought the earlier boxes to Athens, the two other people opening boxes were equally excited.

The BookMooch books, and especially those collected by you guys, are the ones that we are always able to include in the boxes for the schools and we know that those books will be the first ones selected. I know that sometimes it seems endless (are they asking for books again?!?), but you are one of the pillars of Books for Keeps, without which we might not be able to keep our promises to those kids.

I did a little Black Friday thrift store shopping yesterday. More for the baby girl on the way than for BFK, but they had all books half off, so I bought a bunch of books at 40 cents per book :)

Sent off another box today. Thought I saw somewhere (blog?) Melanie's hoping to get a count by the 31st. Hope it makes it in time.

I did hope to have a count by December 31st but I'm still trying to raise the last of the funds I need to buy the rest of the books. Please keep the books coming - it helps!

Oh sorry, even if I sent my next box tomorrow I don't think it would get to you by Dec 31. I will get it to Kay in January :)

Yeah I have a few more too. I sent her the bulk of them afew weeks ago; just couldn't fit in those last few.

You can add me to the list of people who have books sitting around. Two boxes will be mailed after Christmas. :)

I have a bunch of books posted for BFK right now, I caught another 50% off everything sale the day after Christmas and scored at 40 cents each :) Tons more left to be posted as well, when I get time.

I'll mooch them tonight, Becca, with small cheers of delight.

Oh please do get them mooched soon, the reservations have expired on the ones I posted last week!

My husband is going to kill me, we think the latest box is right around 70 lbs! He's taking it to the post office now, fingers crossed that it stays under. Needless to say, there are a lot of "freebie" books in the box that I didn't post to Bookmooch.

69lbs 4oz!

DH said that the lady at the post office said she lived in Greenville for 5 years :) I had to stay home with the sick baby. He went to the PO close to us where the clerks are nice, though I am having a hard time imagining the female clerk lifting a 70lb package. It is in their job description though, I guess someone has to keep them sharp!

Excellent! I'm lucky enough to have a mail carrier who insists that she carry the heaviest boxes to my door. She still smiled at me after your last box, Becca. Everyone at my post office knows about Books for Keeps. Apparently there was a discussion there about all those boxes and they were curious to get an explanation.

Also, your husband is awesome!

36: Can I borrow your husband? I have two boxes waiting to go to the post office that I am not about to carry myself. One of these days I'll trick someone into helping me lol.

Haha he is pretty awesome. I'm also very pregnant, he doesn't normally carry my heavy packages for me!

He has also banned me from shipping that many books again. He would prefer I stop bringing more stuff into the house, even if it is eventually going back out.

Hey everybody- it's been a long time! We are in book-boxing mode, getting the books packed up and ready for delivery to the schools. It's hard work, but it's so much fun to see all the great books.

There are some titles that we get almost exclusively from people like you who mail books in to us. Big Nate... Bone... anything hard to find. Our little thrift stores can't possibly provide enough, and we have no discount sources for most of these books.

Just wanted to say thank you for all the great books you send our way!
--Melaney

Oh Hey! I have another 5 boxes of books packed and ready to go - I just need to get them to the post office!

And I have another 2 that will be sent from the US when I get down there next weekend. :)

re 43: I apologize, I forgot the books at home. I'll send them when I get back... sigh

Mare, no need to apologize. The kids will still need books next spring.

Speaking of which, I helped box books last weekend and saw what the stacks look like before they reach each school. It's a lot of boxes!

Divine Oomba - many, many boxes of books from you arrived on my doorstep today. Thank you!

Melaney - You are very Very Welcome! There should be 5 boxes total. I have another box started...but Unless you need them, I'll wait until you start collecting for next year :)

For those of you with a half price books near you- Check out the events page http://blog.hpb.com/hpb-blog/2013/4/3/local-store-events-round-up-april.html

It looks like there's a kids warehouse sale in Seattle on April 20th and a fill the bag sale for $15 at the Bloomington, Indiana store

Unfortunately I can't make the next Seattle one, we have a track meet that day.

Check out the cute tote bag that students will use to take their books home. They are so proud of their totes; this year's is really cute!
http://booksforkeeps.blogspot.com/2013/04/its-here-2013-book-distribution-schedu...

That is adorable! :)

I've got some books posted when you get a chance... hopefully soon because the reservations expire in a few days. I am about to move and will be sending a much bigger box than the number of books posted :)

Hey everybody - I hope you haven't given up on us! Ridgeway Girl moved out of the country (I miss her already) but we are lucky to have Melanie B handling our bookmooching and mail-in donations for us. If you need her mailing address, let me know. You can reach me at melaney@booksforkeeps.org

I was asked to create a timeline of our history for a board meeting last weekend, and it was a trip down memory lane. Books for Keeps started with BookMoochers and thrift store shoppers around the US and Canada, sending us books in the mail. That first year, we had more books mailed in than we did donated right here at home. There wouldn't have been a "next year" if it weren't for some of you reading this message board. Thank you!

And today, we announced that by this coming May - just 10 months from now - we will double our reach from 2,000 to 4,000 children. I am excited, and terrified! We will need your help more than ever... I hope you're still with us!

Let the countdown begin...
Melaney

PS: Here's the announcement, if you're interested.
http://bit.ly/13QXMCC

My mother just unloaded 3 or 4 more huge boxes of kids books into my hallway which I will be sending over soon.

*waves at Melaney* Just stopping in so you know *I* haven't forgotten about BfK!! Haven't been on LibraryThing or BookMooch much, dealing with personal stuff lately, but I got the wonderful letter that was sent out and I'll be donating.... Most likely in September.

I'd love to see that timeline, sounds awesome! Memory lane indeed.

I just mailed out 3 sizeable boxes. Hope the kids enjoy them!

I have a stack growing at my in-laws house, I will try to get them posted to Bookmooch for BFK when I am in town next week :)

macsbrains - your packages arrived - thank you! I love coming home and finding boxes of books on my doorstep!

Hope all is well, Heather!

Glad they arrived safely!

Hey everybody! I'm looking for ideas.

We have to find sponsors - or books - for 1,042 more students by December 31st and I'm trying to think of new ways to get the word out. I know there are people out there with unwanted books on their bookshelves, or who would be willing to sponsor a child as a holiday gift. But how do I reach them?

Are there other message boards we should join? Other book swapping sites beyond BookMooch and Library Thing, or places where book-lovers hang out online? All ideas are welcome and needed.

I am excited to think about reaching twice the number of children next year, but must admit it's keeping me awake at night, wondering where these books are going to come from! It's going to be another nail-biter.

I have a bunch of books I need to send, I will try to get them posted on Bookmooch over Thanksgiving when I am in Seattle (they are at my in-laws').

PaperbackSwap has worked with a few charities in the past, perhaps now that BFK has grown you could try and work something out?

Good idea! They said no in the past but maybe we've proven ourselves now. Never hurts to ask!

It would be really nice if PBS would let you have a charity account like you have on Bookmooch that people could donate points to.

What about GoodReads.com? - its similiar to Librarything.com

I not very familiar with them - but if you can make a presence on it, it might bring in more support.

I have a big box of books going in Monday's mail :) I posted a few of them to Bookmooch but there are a lot more in the box ;)

Also, I decided that those gift certificate things would make a good Christmas present for my mom!

Y'all are the best.. some of our earliest supporters and it means a lot!

Hello!
Does anyone know who looks after the Books For Keeps Bookmooch Account these days? I posted some books up and sent an email but no-one has snagged them. My daughter REALLY wants her books to go to them and is pestering me
Thanks!

Let me find out. I'll be in Athens for a day on August first and will find out for you then.

Thanks Kay, you are a superstar! I will extend my reserves until I find out :)

I just sent a few last week. I sent the email notification thing through the system and the books were promptly mooched :)

I actually had a bunch more to send, but I donated a bunch to a family who lost everything in a fire, and now my sister got a job as a school librarian at a failing school in Tulsa, and they are really low on good books, so she's getting the bulk of my books these days.

I scored earlier this week!

At our local dump, we have a "take it or leave it" which is basically like a thrift store except everything is free. The kids books tend to be pretty beat up, but I usually grab a bunch for my sister to give to the kids at her school.

When I went Wednesday, they had four Bone books and one Amulet... for free! Most were in good shape too. Then on Black Friday, I went to a lot of thrift stores and scored another Bone for 25c. :)