Books for Keeps

It looks like several of us are mooching away for Melaney and the kids in Athens. I thought it might be useful and enjoyable to make a place where we can chat about how fun this is, complain about our mooch ratio, compare tips and revel in the generosity of others.

I generally explain who I'm mooching for and ask for any deals they would be willing to offer. For my last BFK mooch, she first told me she'd return all the points I'd used (9), then she emailed again to tell me to please go back over her inventory for any others that seemed suitable. So I mooched seven more and she returned all 16 points to me. How great is that?

And an earlier one--she took only a single point for a large stack of books, then the box arrived with double the amount--her daughter had added several when she heard what it was for.

BookMoochers know the value of book ownership!

Hi
Could you explain who Melaney is and the kids in Athens? And what kind of books are you looking for?
Thanks

Here's a little bit of information about the Books for Keeps program:

http://bookmooch.com/bio/booksforkeeps

I'm one of her angel moochers (I think there are about five of us). Because her mooching ratio is a little perilous, and she hasn't heard back about becoming an Official BookMooch Charity, Melaney enlists our help sometimes when multiple books she wants are on someone's inventory.

Because Mount TBR is huge, and I'm not really getting that many hits for my books lately anyway, I've been using up most of my points getting her books. One person was really generous not too long ago; I was getting really, really low on points, so I only mooched four from her. When she read my comments about what the books were for, she told me I could pick out around 20-25 more (enough to fill a box) from her inventory for free. It was so kind!

Here's Melaney's blog for even more information about what Books for Keeps has been up to:

http://booksforkeeps.blogspot.com

For anyone who has stumbled in here: if you have, or come across, any books for children between kindergarten and 12th grade that you are willing to donate, or donate at a reduced point cost, please let us know!

Many of these kids are reluctant readers and don't have the experience of having books laying around their houses, so colorful, popular books are best. In high demand are the Wimpy Kids books, Captain Underpants, The Magic Treehouse series, Goosebumps books, Junie B. Jones, etc... Series are popular because kids recognize them. Anything with a bright, exciting cover goes over well, too. Joke books, sports books for kids...

BFK just added high school to the kids they're giving books to, so any help there is valuable. If there's anyone out there within a few years of high school who could let us know what's really popular (beyond Twilight, Gossip Girl and related series) among kids who don't read a lot, that would be very helpful

And finally, because I can go on for days about this, here's an interesting article:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-06-01-summerreading01_st_N.htm

> 5.

I've got that article printed out. When I can finally get someone to agree to let me use them as a drop off point her in Mississauga I'll wow them with the article and explain how they are helping children escape the doom of poverty and break a cycle that has lasted generations.

That being said, I keep collecting books for her and trying to figure out how I'm going to get them to her. My trip to the US got cancled so that put my idea of using media mail on hold.

I'm trying to get a book collection going, I'm going to see if my dentist minds me setting up a box for books, and maybe my doctor, who knows.

~ Missy

I'm a spoiled, naive reader, I admit that. I was BEYOND SHOCKED when I first learned about this whole thing... I honestly couldn't comprehend that some children live their childhoods without any books in their house. I was so used to being surrounded by books growing up... I think it really hit hard for me, to realize that, because I have so many wonderful childhood memories of books and reading, and realizing that many kids don't get to experience that.... WOW.

So I do as much as possible for BFK. I wish I lived closer so I could do more! I take trips to the used bookstore and the thrift shops at least twice a month to clean them out of children's books (now that BFK has expanded to all grades, I have an even bigger list to look for!). I put as many books in each package as I can, and list each package as an angel-mooch on BookMooch (because I have to keep track of them somehow, lol!)

A few nights ago I spent awhile making a nice 'n tidy spreadsheet of all the books on BFK's wishlist (elementary, middle school, and high school) and printed it out and I'll be taking it with me on my next book-scouting trip (instead of the handwritten-list I'd had before).

I love the feeling of knowing that I'm helping children so much. Sending books to people, anyone, who want to read them, that's part of what I love so much about BookMooch. So THIS is like a thousand times more powerful.

I only wish somehow we (a collective "we") could do this for all the poverty-stricken cities out there.

Well, in a very short time, BFK has expanded from three grades in one school to all grades in many Athens, GA schools. And I know that a few people are seriously chewing over the idea of expanding things to other communities.

There is a study going on, paid for by the federal government, that is achieving fantastic results giving 12 books to each student, but in the current climate I suspect they won't be able to expand given that the target is both lower-income and educational. *steps carefully off of my soap-box*

I can see no reason that BFK, and similar efforts, can't expand to cover every schoolchild. Imagine an entire generation of readers!

Imagine a kid going to school and being able to talk to friends about the awesome book they just read, instead of getting blank stares from non-readers! (I had that experience a lot growing up)

Heather I still get that look from my bff and my bf. It is funny how I'm such a bookworm but all of the closest people to me (not including imediate family) are not into reading at all.

My bff fell in love with the Twilight series (I still haven't read it) and she has read them each a few times. It is the first time she has tried to talk me into reading a series. It is also the first time I've herd her lament about the poor job Hollywood does with some book adaptations.

I've complained about so many book to movies and she would tell me I just don't understand, I got to say I told you so when she saw Eclipse and she talked about how they ruined the book.

All that aside I'm very proud of supporting BFK and I've already told Mel that when she knows how to expand the program I'm ready to figure out how to open a chapter here in my home town.

~ Missy

#8 RidgewayGirl

There was a chapter in Freakonomics that discussed that study or something very similar to it (the parenting and education chapter I think).

^cdnbookworm, if your bff liked Twilight, she might like the Hunger Games trilogy also, and the good news is that all three books are out so she doesn't have to wait in between. I've only read the first two, and my copy of the third arrives from Amazon tomorrow. They're gripping!

I mean no offense, amysisson, but I wouldn't assume that someone who likes the Twilight books would like the Hunger Games books. Hunger Games is action packed, fast moving, governmental corruption dystopia with a little bit of romance triangle thrown in. Twilight is not and has a LOT of romance triangle.

For someone who likes Twilight, I'd lean more toward Shiver- slow moving werewolf love, or Fallen - slow moving fallen angel love (hey, the TITLE gives it away!) or one of the fairy love triangle books... I can't think of one that moves as slowly as Twilight.

Not that I hate Twilight, but gripping it is not.

^ealaindraoi, no offense taken! ;-)

Actually, I don't care for Twilight myself -- I've read all four books and found them to be not terribly well written, and actually kind of disturbing in their portrayal of "love" (which is apparently all based on body odor, um, I mean chemistry!).

I admit that what I feel the two series have in common is a little outside of the books themselves. Within the books (although I haven't read Mockingjay yet), I do think both have the starcrossed lovers/romance triangle, to a lesser extent in the HG trilogy, of course. Also, some Twilight fans think those books are suspenseful even if many of us don't, so they might appreciate the heightened suspense of HG. Finally, I think a lot of Twilight fans really enjoyed the hype, and the camaraderie of all their friends reading and talking about the same books. If they liked that, they can get it with the Hunger Games books as well. But yes, this is definitely a YMMV situation.

That program is a great idea. How come you never here of something like that in France? We have plenty of deprived suburbs here around Paris, so maybe I could look around to see if any exist.

Can't say I liked Twilight. I thought Edward was a serious creep. In fact, I think I would have liked the book better if he had been written as creepy and Bella had to find a way to get rid of him, lol!

But my sister-in-law loves it, so I'll write myself a note and see if I can get her "Shiver" or "Fallen" for next Christmas.

or one of the fairy love triangle books

Which one is that?

#14 - Ah good point! If you're looking for the 'shared experience' then Twilight AND Hunger Games DO have something in common!
I don't hate Twilight, because hating a book that gets kids to read is counter-productive - but I didn't exactly like it either! :)
Interestingly, a book where the 'hero' is creepy and potentially dangerous, Hush, Hush (like Edward) the heroine actually tries to stay away from him and tell someone, wasn't nearly as successful.
Thanks for not taking offense!! :)

#15 Fairy Love Triangle books - there are several good ones - hopefully Belladonna and macbrains will chime in too. But Wicked Lovely is wicked good, and the Tithe trio, Ballad & Lament, and Wondrous Strange & Darklight are some of the especially good ones.

Did someone say Faerie books? *grin*

I must completely agree with ealaindraoi's suggestions (except for Wondrous Strange & Darklight, simply because I haven't read them yet, but soon! *bwaha stalks wishlists*) and I'd add War for the Oaks to that also for an example of real Urban Fantasy, not whatever passes for Urban Fantasy nowadays.

*edited because touchstones are being mean :(

I sent a box of books to Melaney last year, but now I'm in Saudi so accumulating a box from the US and then sending it back across the ocean seems like a terrible thing to do to the environment. I have a lot of points and would love to Mooch books to be sent directly to Books for Keeps- has anyone done anything like that? Alternatively, I can smooch some points to one of you already collecting books for Melaney's cause- just let me know!

ForeignCircus, you can do either. You can have them sent directly to Melaney (although she's pretty swamped right now) or to me (I live less than two hours away and already have enough books stacked along the bedroom wall to justify driving the books directly to her--I'm not swamped so it would be easy for me to receive them and let you know quickly when they arrive.)

You can also contact Melaney directly and determine with her what you'd like to do. If you want to donate points this is a good way to go--she'll know who of her angelers is currently low on points or how they can best be used.

http://bookmooch.com/m/bio/yenalem

*Pops in*

I heard Faerie books and I came running!

I second War for the Oaks and Wicked Lovely.

I also add Anne Bishop's Tir Alain Trilogy. She knows how to build a world!

*Pops out*

Yup, I really liked War for the Oaks too! I didn't include that one because I was thinking that it didn't have a love triangle, but then when the second thought came 'round, I realized that it did! ('duh!)

Off to WL Tir Alain...!!

>16 ealaindraoi:, 20

I am highly amused about how faerie-like it is that someone called our names out in the ether, and lo, we heard it on the wind like a summons.

Hey everybody - I just stumbled across this thread and I am thrilled and humbled to read your discussion about Books for Keeps. There's so much research, so many statistics... but for me it always comes back to one little girl who was sad because she didn't have any books.

Foreign Circus: YES, you can have book sent straight to me from other BookMooch or PaperBackSwap members, or to Ridgeway Girl as suggested above. I do have "angel moochers" who mooch on my behalf and I can usually reimburse the points, especially if I know in advance. I don't have room in my mooch ratio (or time, sadly) to mooch for myself but I usually have points.

Missy - I'll figure out a way to get your books! I didn't realize you were collecting. RidgewayGirl - thank you for offering to have books sent to your house; I love getting the packages but it's getting crazy around here! I'm excited to see what you've collected.

Y'all are the best and I appreciate your support so much. I'm sorry if this is an inappropriate post; I'm new to the whole forum thing.

Melaney
givethembooks@gmail.com
http://booksforkeeps.blogspot.com
3,000 books and counting!!!!

Melaney,
It is wonderful to have you available to answer any questions we might be unable to answer. Having you on this forum allows for that kind of a response.

As for getting the books from me I think other member and I are working out a way to get them to you. It may become some what of a relay. I am ALWAYS looking for bookd to give to you and your cause. I keep a list in my purse incase I run into a book that I though was requested by your kids.

I love BFK and I can't wait to see how the program grows and changes over the course of the next year.

~ Missy

I definitely want to help with this too. I read the blog and could only think of what a fantastic idea it was. This is the perfect solution for what to do with my oodles of points. Now I just need to find where to send the books.

>25 lahochstetler: I've PM'ed you the address.

Thanks, that was fast!

>27 lahochstetler: Heh, I just happened to check the group after you posted. I feel like a stalker!

Speaking of stalking...Melaney, I don't know if you'll be checking this thread again any time soon, but I thought other people here might be interested in your answer. Are you accepting audio books as well (CDs or cassettes)?

No worries! I was able to mooch 90+ books last night from the various wishlists. As I said, way too many points, and delighted to use them for this.

I love Books for Keeps - such a simple idea that will do wonders for children! My question is this - I see Melanie is looking for plastic bins - if I buy a plastic bin, pack it with books, Tape on the cover tightly, can I ship the whole thing media mail? Would a plastic bin stand up to the rigors of the USPS shipping department without cracking?

No, I'm not collecting audio books. I'll start monitoring the thread, and yall can always email me at givethembooks@gmail.com. Don't be shy!

I am just as excited about discovering this thread as I am about the article in today's paper. It makes it seem real to me, like I'm not in this by myself, when I see real posts from real people talking about Books for Keeps. Huge boost of motivation - thank you!

Melaney
Here's the article if you didn't see it on the blog:
http://onlineathens.com/stories/091010/new_706081468.shtml

Oh - Madam DivineOomba - don't worry about the plastic bins. I will figure that out. What we don't have enough of here in Athens is BOOKS. I've bought out the thrift stores so often they've raised their prices.
(Thanks for the ones you sent recently... I know who you are!)
Melaney

Update for everyone: Books for Keeps is now officially a BookMooch charity, so we can commence in giving points with impunity! (If that's something you're interested in doing, of course.)

33: .... It's not even on her blog yet, are you like reading her mind or something? :P

...It's on her BookMooch profile? Gyah! I am a Books for Keeps stalker, aren't I.

I think it's appropriate and par for the course that y'all knew I had a charity account before I knew it myself.... I'll be laughing for the rest of the night.
Melaney

Does anybody know if that means my mooch ratio doesn't matter any more?

>37 yenalem: Yes!

I just e-mailed you this same thing (in more words), but it bears repeating because it's AWESOME.

Wheeee! Yaaaaay! *cheers*

And I'm totally giggling about us knowing before Melaney.

I don't have any good condition kids' books, but welcome to Tumblr, Books for Keeps! http://danikathelesbrarian.tumblr.com/post/1101380736/hey-tumblr-have-you-heard-...

The fall library sales will start here soon (RI) and I'll be keeping an eye out. We didn't have much when I was a child, but there was a program through the school where we could get books for .10 or .25, and my parents tried hard to let me get a book every couple of weeks. I only realize as I'm older, how hard it was for them, so I give a book with every baby shower gift, birthday and Christmas gift that I give. I also have a lot of points and trying to limit mooching as I've run out of places to store books, so I think I'll send some points their way too.

ok - if it's an official bookmooch charity, why can't I find it on the lists? Gotta go now - will check later for an answer - thanks

I can't find it on the lists either. Maybe they just made it a charity account yesterday? Regardless of how/why/when, it'll make a huge difference to our ability to place more books in more childrens' homes!
Melaney

Woo Hoo - just got back from a city wide garage sale day, and found lots of books for Books for Keeps, and for a very nice price too. I should have another box ready to ship pretty quick :)

.... YARD SALES!!! *headdesks* Why on earth didn't I think of that?? *makes a note to scout out yardsales next weekend*

Yard sales are fun :) also came away with a bike rack, a copy of All Quiet on the Western Front, a number of free flowerpots, and a headboard for my bed. Think I spent less than $30 for all of that.

I'm doing a super happy dance for Melany and BFK now becoming a Charity!

*dancing, dancing, dancing*

Library Thing'ers, a question for you. I read somewhere that I could use a bar code scanner to enter books. I'm wondering if this could solve my book sorting dilemma.

I'd love to find a way to scan a book when it comes in, and know right away whether it's acceptable content-wise or not. In my dreams, I scan a bar code and get a message "Book Approved" or "Warning" or "Book not found". We get a lot of books I've never heard of, and I have to read the covers & sometimes even look them up online to find out if the content is acceptable for a school program.

During our book drive in October, I'll be relying on volunteers to inspect the books and I'm really nervous. If you are familiar with the bar code scanning situation please let me know. (Or if you know of another resource I can use.)

Melaney
givethembooks@gmail.com

There's a cue cat available for scanning books into/onto LT, but that would just get you a listing on LT, which doesn't give you what you want/need.

others might be able to give you more info

>48 yenalem:: You might consider posting your question in a new thread in the BookTalk group. They might be better able to help you.

> 48

Or maybe try the group Librarians Who LibraryThing. There's a lot of school librarians on there who might give you some advice.

@48 : out of curiosity, what is deemed unacceptable in books for a school program in the USA? I'm interested, because over the years I've found it funny how some books / ideas / opinions cause different reactions depending on the country you're from. For example, I'm French, and spent a summer in West Texas when I was 20, and oh boy! Culture shock, lol!

#52: it depends upon the area (like West Texas) & the community. Some areas are fine with 'liberal' topics & some areas are so conservative that they object to anything that doesn't "protect the child from the evil real world".

If you look at a list of banned books, it would give you a small idea at what books some conservative areas would object to... but subjects with sex, violence, GLBT issues, non-Christian topics, and profane language would be things that would be prohibited. Graphic novels are sometimes not looked upon favorably because adults don't think they promote 'real' reading.

Here are links to some sites that have lists of Banned Books:

http://www.banned-books.com/bblist.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_books_banned_by_governments

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most-commonly_challenged_books_in_the_Unite...
--------------------------------

and instead of continuing a discussion on banned books, if someone wants to continue the discussion, please take it to another thread.... the Librarians who LT group usually has a discussion on Banned Books there.

As far as what's acceptable to Books for Keeps (topic of this thread), we go by whatever a school library might contain. But the reason for my question about the bar code scanner is to prevent risque adult books from sneaking past my volunteer book sorters. I had a book donated for and elementary school drive that had a chapter suggesting everyone should try at least 1 illegal drug before they die, and went on to outline which were the safest! So yes, I'm censoring to a certain extent...

>54 yenalem:

For physically acceptable, is it okay if an otherwise nice-condition book has a remainder mark? I get a lot of my non-BookMooch books from a closeout site, so many of the books that would be good for BFK have remainder marks.

Remainder marks are perfectly fine. Those are some of the best-condition books we get; we love them!

I have a few children's books in my inventory at the moment. I would be willing to smooch back the points, if you want them. I'm also not that far from Athens, GA, so if you need another collection point, I could do that, too.

http://bookmooch.com/m/inventory/dkhiggin

I also have quite a few duplicates of the children's magazine called Zoobooks. Are you interested in them? I haven't listed them on BM yet.

From angel-mooching for BFK, and a surprise thrift-store stop while on errands today.... I have a PILE of... *counts* 31 books to send to Melaney. (And this is a new-ish pile! I sent a few huge packages a few weeks back)

And yet, my pile is just a little drop in the bucket compared to what Melaney has! Have you seen the most recent BFK blogpost? That's a LOT of packages/books!!

I have seen the pic of her front door and hall way. Just get people bumps when I think that many people care that kids get books.

I emailed that blog to my book club two days ago.That is one of our Christmas projects now and maybe books for the soldiers as well.

And she started out helping one little girl!

"people bumps" lol! that's too funny.

BFK has passed well over 4000 books and I think they are closer to 5000. And the book drive has just begun. I'm so excited for the program!

I think Mel and BFK is going to hit 10,000 books by the time they have to hand them all out. Personally I think that is a very releastic goal. Way to go Mel and BFK!

AND she's been interviewed for tv and radio! This is HUGE! I remember when it was just her and a few friends, and no one knew about it... It's so AWESOME to see it growing so much and getting so much publicity!

Hey everybody - Books for Keeps just ran out of BookMooch points! If you have a way of spreading the word to other Moochers, please do. I don't want anybody to get in trouble for improper use of forums, so be careful!

>63 yenalem: I don't think it's improper to tell people that one of the charities has run out of points. :)

One problem seems to be that BFK isn't on the physical list yet; it has charity status but I can't find it listed with the other charities on the charity page. Maybe if it was there people would notice it more? Not sure how we can make that happen.

We're back up to 200 points so we're okay for now. Looking forward to meeting RidgewayGirl in person this weekend! We're having our first Volunteer Sort day; can't believe there will be books I haven't personally touched, inspected, and categorized!

Oh, and I'm having fun trying to connect your LibThing user names to the emails some of you send me. I have about 5 of you figured out... it's kind of like a game...

Luckyduck! I would loooove to meet some of the LT/BMers!
and *giggles at msg 66*

>66 yenalem: Here's an easy 6th name. Yeah, I know, I take all the fun out of the game... :)

I had a great day yesterday, meeting Melaney in person and sorting through stacks of donated books. There will be constant changes to the wishlists, so keep an eye on the blog to see what to look for.

http://booksforkeeps.blogspot.com/

How lucky that you and Melaney got to meet up!

Sorting books seems fun - I wish I didn't live so far away !

#68 - Sandy! How nice to see a name I know! I didn't know you were a LT user. #69: I LOVED meeting you Ridgeway Girl, and I'm thinking up all sorts of work for you to do from afar. You'll be sorry you offered to help!

I have new books to add to the wishlist, but my notes are scattered. All I can remember right now is this series by Ronde & Tiki Barber.
http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Ronde-Barber/20913087/books

My insane schedule will slow down at 8:00AM this Thursday. I'm counting the minutes.

Forgot to add: we broke 5,000 books yesterday! And that's just the boxes that have been counted, sealed, and put in inventory. There are hundreds more waiting for attention.

I need ideas for how to best convert adult books into children's books. I can't post them all on BM or PBS; I will go broke from the postage. Used book stores? eBay? Help!

Hmmm. I would say trade them at used bookstores, but haven't you cleaned all those out by now? :P eBay may be a possibility, and I'm sure you'd be more careful calculating postage then I was (I never even broke even 'cause I miscalculated the postage I needed to charge).

Post some on BM tho! I'm sure there are a lot of us who'd love to mooch from you as a way of helping (and maybe even kick in a little postage, too!).

Melaney, once all the Halloween stuff is over, maybe advertise a little "convert adult books into children's books" event? Have people bring children's books and give them an adult book in return?

I think local stores are going to be your best bet for converting adult books to kids books without costing you any money. They'll probably be picky about what they take, but you can donate whatever books they don't want to thrift stores.

A new challenge for your brains: Melaney is looking for an easy way for someone sorting books for her to be able to look up a book to determine which reading level designation box it should go in. Any ideas?

Some are easy; all Junie B. Jones go here, etc...but there are so many that can't be individually mentioned and general guidelines produce very mixed results.

#77: go to the teachers on LT or the Librarians on LT for this one.

They will know immediately, if not sooner.

Thanks, skittles, will do.

Loved meeting one of Books for Keeps' angel moochers yesterday. Mary has been mooching for us and storing the books at her house. Picked up 8 or so boxes on my way to a family reunion in Florida. Thank you Mary! Can't wait to see what's in those boxes.

76,000 books. Am I ambitious or just crazy?
http://booksforkeeps.blogspot.com/2010/11/how-many-books-are-enough.html

>81 yenalem: You need a little bit of the latter to make the former work!

Melaney, I don't know if you'd want to mention it on the blog, but right now the Wimpy Kid books are all priced under seven dollars at Amazon. No clue how long it will last.

So, if anyone would like to give BfK a Christmas present...

Crazy is what makes the ambitious WORK! WOOOOT! Goooo BfK!

I haven't been able to get to any thrift stores or bookstores lately, but sooon!

>82 chelonianmobile:

If you are on her FB fan page you can post the info about amazon there yourself if you like. If you don't want to I'd be happy to but I'm sure you have the link already.

Melaney, I think your goal is just right. Hopefully this year you will reach that goal and help so many children. No matter what remember what you are doing makes a difference not just in your community but in others. People will see what you are doing and translate it into their own areas.

~ Missy

>85 cdnbookworm: Missy, I am really not a Facebook person, so if you think it would be good to put the information there, please go ahead.

I posted it on our FB page and blog when the book came out and got about 30 copies; hopefully we'll get more. And I meant to write 72,000 books, not 76,000... but I'll take 76,000!

Yenalem - I was just at the local library book sale - I came home with about 40 books for you! No Diary of a Wimpy Kid, but a couple of other wishlisted ones. I'll be sending them to you as Money permits, probably after the holidays!

Thanks Divine Oomba! Can't wait to see what you found!

If any of you are sitting on a bunch of points, Books for Keeps is beginning to run low on points. Spread the word and I promise that each point will be used to mooch a book that will appeal to an Athens, GA schoolchild.

And many, many thanks to all of you who have hunted down books for BfK, donated points and given BfK killer deals when we mooch from you!

BM will provide as many points from the general charity fund as are needed to keep you and the kids knee deep in books :)

Melaney, did you get books from a book club in Lville Ga "Reading Roadies"? Our group enjoyed gathering up titles for your cause as our Christmas gift to each other!

I'll get you some points over too. Just love your heart. And Mark's heart too!

Thank you, everyone who donated points! And thank you, Ridgeway Girl for managing the Books for Keeps BookMooch account. What a tremendous amount of work you've taken off my shoulders.

BONS - yes, we sure did get the books from the Reading Roadies. Kathy's daughter dropped them off at our sort room when I wasn't there. I didn't get to meet any of you, but I appreciate the books so much.

We crossed the 10,000 book mark today. So thankful. So... amazed!

That's great! I have a box I'm tryign to get sent to Kay, but the snow here and work have stopped me from making it to the PO. On your way to the next 10,0000.

I'm not sure if either of the ladies that mooch for Melaney come on here, I'm new to this site and though I recognise some BM ids I'm not sure who it is that does the mooching as they are referred to by first names on the charity page

Anyway, my inventory is reserved for Books for Keeps, have emailed Melaney to let her know but thought I'd post it here too, just in case... my BM id is same as here :)

Peta158, I'll visit your inventory tonight and mooch all I see. Thank you!

Thanks Peta!

There are another 5 books reserved on my inventory Kay, when you get chance to mooch them, had a bit of space left in the box :D

I'll hop to it, Peta, if not tonight, then tomorrow. You have a good eye, btw. I got all excited mooching the others.

If anyone wanders around a thrift store or garage sale and notices any Wimpy Kid books, or BabyMouse, or Captain Underpants or Dork Diaries, please, please buy them if you can.

I just opened an enormous box from dudes22. She'd just sent BfK a stack of books. Thanks, Betty.

My pleasure - I can't wait for the library sales to start so I can look for more.

I have a new "most wanted" to add to the Books for Keeps wishlist: Early reader superhero books. These are the "I Can Read" and "Step Into Reading" series of books.

A few local media specialists report that the books about superheroes are great for reaching older kids who are far behind on their reading skills. There are some 4th and 5th grade boys reading at a 1st-2nd grade level who are embarrassed to be seen reading "baby books" as they try to improve. But these particular series of books about superheroes look more like comic books so the boys aren't embarrassed to read them.

I'm searching high and low but they're hard to find. Please keep your eyes open for them. They are CHEAP to mail because they're so thin, and they make a big difference to these boys who are struggling to read.

Thanks everybody!

Are things like Star Wars and Transformers on the table as well do you think? They're very . . . boy-friendly.

Yes - Star Wars is especially hot. I haven't seen many Transformers books but since Animorphs and Bionicle are popular, I think Transformers would be too.

A few questions:

Is there any plan to re-haul the wishlists? I see you mentioning books here that aren't on the "official" wishlists on the BFK site, and then sometimes I'll mention books to you that are on the wishlist and it sounds like you don't need many more of those... So... yeah.

Also: BFK is an official charity at BookMooch now, so should we leave it up to you guys to do the mooching? I mean, if I notice a Junie B book available should I snatch it for you guys, or let you pick/choose?

If you're willing and see suitable books, please mooch them. There are three people mooching for BfK and so a lot of great books are missed. More eyes would be extremely welcome.

I've found you a few more books and added them to my inventory when you get a spare moment :)

Heather - I definitely need to update the wish lists on the blog. Just never seem to find the time. I'll get to it soon; thanks for the reminder.

I've been unpacking books and logging them this morning and I just wanted to thank those of you here BfK has mooched from. You guys are great about adding a few extra books, which are always very welcome!

Ealandroi, thanks for those extras!

It's a good news/bad news kind of day. Can y'all help me spread the Books for Keeps message to some new people? Maybe someone out there is sitting on a stack of Junie B's and is willing to fork over $6 to mail a big box to Athens.

Call me crazy, but I'm trying to collect 6,000 MORE books in 2 months. Ideas?

http://booksforkeeps.blogspot.com/2011/02/good-news-bad-news.html

112: stack to be sent tomorrow!

I will wonder down to the local Salvation Army Thrift store on Friday this week or next. Kids books are .50 and the fourth book is free. Way better then anywhere else around here. I think I may try BMV to. I hear it is a crazy good used book store I may find some there too.

I've got a stack of kids books on my shelf that haven't moved in 1 year+. DH would be thrilled if I got rid of them :) I'll send out the ones that are in good condition.

I've been hem-hawwing for months about an idea: Setting up a collection box at my local library. I'm fairly far away from Athens, but I can easily ship whatever books get collected; I'm just having a dry spell finding the books myself. How does that idea sound? Do you think anyone would donate in Yuma, AZ, for a group in Athens? And... how the freak would I go about doing that?

Oh Melany, do you have any need for large print books? I have some large-print Baby-Sitters Club books I could part with. They are hardback and in good condition.

> 116 I seem to remember her saying at one point that Baby-sitters Club books (at least, the old editions?) weren't in demand. Of course, I don't know for sure that she doesn't need them. :-)

I went through my books last night, and I pulled several for B4K. However, I have a question about condition... I have a second pile of books that have the previous owner's name written on the inside cover? Is that ok? If so, I will have a whole box to send.

>117 MsCellophane:

Yeah, I figured there is not much demand for BSC, but there are not many kids books with large print editions, so if there are any kids at the schools who are visually impaired, they might enjoy them anyway.

The trick is that the books have to be books that the kids want. And no matter how good a book is, if it screams "1985" or "boring" or "discard" the kids won't want it. There are some new editions of bsc out now with new, modern, colorful covers and even a graphic novel version. Those would work, but not the ones we loved back in the day.

Another thing to look for is how white the book looks. There are so many books filled with well-to-do white children. One of the things kids need to do to enjoy reading is to be able to relate to the characters. Some characters transcend that - The Wimpy Kid, Junie B., and books that they've seen a lot in school like The A to Z mystery series.

Bright, attractive covers work the best.

Heather, I'll let Melaney answer your questions about setting up a drop box. I'd like to do that myself!

I'm opening packages from BM everyday and when I see that one of them is from you guys, I know that I'm going to be excited by what's inside!

>120 RidgewayGirl:

Oh, but don't the kids know that well-to-do white children are the Universally Relatable Characters? {/sarcasm}

Are the old-school Animorphs covers okay? I know they're coming out with new ones but I think it's not until May or June. They are pretty colorful. I just need to double-check the condition on mine.

I get that BSC books generally are not in demand. I need to know specifically if there are any children that need large-print books, and if children's large print books are rare enough that BSC large-print books are OK.

I never see large print books for kids/young adults. I would hate to be the one kid at the book pick up who doesn't get a book because they didn't have _any_ large print books.

But maybe there are not any visually impaired kids in Athens, or maybe they got a big box of large print books already and don't need older ones.

I'm not going to ship them unless there is a need.

So excited to see all these posts today!

Babysitters Club has not been popular, but I agree the large print books might be useful so if you're willing to send them, I'll take them!

I do have an idea about collecting books outside of Athens! People around Georgia have emailed coworkers & neighbors that they're collecting, then stuck a box at their desk or in their garage, and they've gotten LOTS of books. You could do the same, but sort through the donations, mail us the paperbacks, and donate any heavy books or hardbacks to the local Friends of the Library. I know that's a lot of work though.

Animorphs are great, even with the old covers; the kids ask for them.

Right now all the books will go to kids in Athens, but when we find a model that works we will absolutely branch out in some way, whether it's telling others how to duplicate what we've done, or starting additional programs on our own.

I appreciate all the posts; what a boost y'all have given me today. Thank you!

Thanks Melaney, will send out a box of books today! Even if no one needs large print books right now, I'm sure as the program expands you'll get some requests.

I went to UGA for a year and a half and enjoyed living in Athens :)

I wish I'd stumbled across this thread earlier this week! I just sent out a couple packages, one with six (two requested, 4 extras) and one with three, and smooched back 3 points to BFK. I totally could have added more. :( I think I'll go start collecting for a bigger package to send!

#110 No problem! Going through the rest of my children's books to see what I can send with the 2 new mooches for BFK. How about Redwall hardbacks without djs?

Don't worry about sending the Redwall's; they'll be expensive to mail. Missing dust jackets are ok if the book still has a picture on the cover underneath. If there's no picture, the books get ignored at our big distributions. But I give those to the media specialists to give to kids one-on-one some other time. No book goes to waste around here!

I know. It's hard to get kids to read a book without a picture/description. You have to hand it to them, say "I know, but just trust me, give it a try." Just didn't know if Redwalls were something that might be on the 'really wanted list'. Strangely, really bright, way above average readers seem to love them. (I say strangely, because I've read a couple, and hated them.)

>128 ealaindraoi: I was a bright, above average reader, my friends who read them the same time I did (late elementary) were mostly bright, above average readers, and all of my friends now who have been crying over Brian Jacques' passing this week were also bright, above average readers, so you could be on to something there. :)

I think they provide complex enough material for the more advanced readers to keep them satisfied while still having a lot of stuff that's pretty simplistic. There aren't a ton of moral gray areas, for example, and certain formulaic elements are in every book. Plus, talking animals!

Big box of books sent today to RidgewayGirl (that was the only address I had) :) I sent some off my shelf, and last weekend I was at a local thrift store that has 25 cent books and found a few more, including a Junie B Jones and Captain Underpants. They weren't in excellent condition like I would normally only grab for this, but I know those are two super popular series, so I figured it was worth a shot!

*grooooans* The used bookstore where I used to stock up on Goosebumps and Magic Treehouse for BfK has raised it's prices. And cut it's inventory. And... yeah. It's not somewhere I'll be shopping anymore. Dangit.

I can still scout the thrift stores tho!

Thanks, Becca! I'll be watching for it!

Heather, thank you!

I've spent the evening opening package after package and marking books received. It's quite a stack that's growing at my feet.

Boxes are arriving at my house too; I've missed that! Will try to get an updated count this weekend. I appreciate everyone's support. Keep spreading the word!

I thought you would all like to know that I took 1,043 books to Athens this morning. We did that!

Now to collect another thousand in the next six weeks or so!

Today was one of the best days in Books for Keeps brief history. 1,000 books in great condition, pre-sorted by reading level. I've been on a book-induced high all day! This weekend I will count & box, count & box, and post an updated total asap. Thank you all!

I have a question about sports books - is there certain sports people that are always timeless? People like Michael Jordan, Shaq O'Neil, etc? I ask because a thift store in the area had books 10 Cents a piece, and there were a couple of sports biography books with very yellow pages. I didn't buy them because of the age

I asked a media specialist about it; she said the kids are only interested in current sports "stars" when the book is about a person. For sports in general, she said basketball and football books would be most popular, but still subject to being rejected for old-fashioned covers. I wish I could find books for 10 cents here! But it's good you didn't get them due to the yellow pages.

The Friends of the Library group in Macon (GA, where my mom lives) is having a sale next week... 150,000 books. I'm training my mom how to recognize Wimpy Kid & Junie B without having to see the title! I'm out of funds but she says she'll shop for me. Fingers crossed!

Wish my FOL sale had 150,000 books...or maybe it's good that it doesn't.:)

The OKC FOL sale is next weekend. It has 600,000 books this year! I am volunteering so I get to shop super early. :) All paperbacks are 50 cents so I will be keeping my eye out for JB and WK for you, Melaney!

Thank you Belladonna! I would love to be in a room with 600,000 books with a $.50 price tag....

Becca, your huge box of books arrived yesterday. Wowza! The books are all in good shape and there are so many of them! Thank you!

Yay!! Glad to hear it :)

Also got a huge box from Mary in Reidsville. Thank you!

I added 5 Animorp books to my inventory & 2 Goosebumps (Gerri07 BM)

If Goosebumps is popular I have another 17 I can post.

Gerri, if they're in good shape, we would love to mooch any and all Goosebumps books you have. I'll mooch the ones you have up now today.

# 145
I mailed the first books today.
Have added 15 Goosebumps, 2 Junie B.Jones, 1 Animorphs #5 and 1 Star Wars paperback to my inventory.

Did I get 'em all, Gerri?

I've got a bunch of kids history paperbacks called Spilling The Beans On... for example Spilling the beans on... Charles Darwin They are in great condition and have bright colourful covers so don't look boring lol

There is Napoleon, Tutunkhamen, Blackbeard, Buffalo Bill, Darwin, Einstein, Robin Hood, Caesar, Joan Of Arc and Shakespeare

Will these be any good?

ETA... They are on my inventory now but came up with weird titles, so if you want them you might need to search with cover art showing :D

I'll go through your inventory over the weekend, Peta. Thank you again. I'm wondering, however, if my postal carrier will stop smiling at me the day your books arrive!

AnnieMod, thank you so much for the huge stack of Amazon boxes on my doorstep when we got home today.

>149 RidgewayGirl:

Anytime. And I suspect you had enough fun opening them :)

Ok, I'm really jealous. Opening boxes of books is much more fun than forecasting inventory needs by reading level or filling out IRS tax forms. Reading all these messages is making my day!

Ugh - don't remind me of IRS forms. I am filing taxes in the States for the first time -- and let's just say I am a bit overwhelmed :)

#149, hmm yes, there is one or two on the way lol

I put up a few others that might be of interest too, uglies is one of them :)

152: Oh man, yeah. *hugs!* (I'm so grateful I have a friend who works in the tax business, she does all the hard work for me and I don't have to get all flustered!)

I've decided to ask for an Amazon giftcard (or two, or three....) for my birthday. Okay, so my birthday isn't until June, but I can plan early! lol Whatever amount I'll recieve, I know I'll spend a bit of it ordering stuff for BFK.

# 147 You got them all. Will mail in 3 separate packages by Monday at the latest.

I'm slowly but surely getting the blog updated... books have been pouring in... thank you everybody!

I've just added a load more to my BM inventory, including a few wishlisters, everything obvious is reserved for BFK but if there is anything else useful just ignore the ask first and grab it

Also managed to snag a load of Captain Underpants books on BM today, and because I said they were for BFK they have sent some extra ones too :D

Yay, Peta. You and Michelle are responsible for half of the BfK pending list, you know! I'll mooch 'em tonight once the house is quiet. The mail carrier just dropped a crate of packages off, so it's going to be a fun evening -- I love seeing the books and thinking how fun it will be for the kids to choose from among them.

#158
I have just added 15 Animorph books to my inventory if you are interested. I'm Gerri 07 on BM

I miss having crates of packages left at my house... but then I remember how long it takes to open them, log them, and sort them... THANK YOU, Ridgeway Girl. And thanks also to everyone who's making these books available to us!

Chelonianmobile, your fantastic box o' books arrived! They were all in great shape and thank you for that stack of extra Animorph books.

just listed the Captain Underpants books when you get a spare mo x

Would there be any interest in the Cornelia Funke book "Inkheart" do you think?

I'll go mooching when I get some time, this evening hopefully.

And, yes, if it's in good shape, we would very much like your copy of Inkheart. If you reserve it for BooksforKeeps, please let me know here or PM me and I'll mooch it with thanks!

Ideally speaking, what's the cut-off point for when books need to be in for this school year? I'm trying to figure out logistics on sending another box. :)

I also have some Jodi Picoults and a couple of other things. I really don't need the points so I'll probably just do up another box and send it off to you in the next couple of weeks like I did before. I'll be sure to include a note so you know they're not a mooch.

Chelonianmobile, I'll be taking the final books down in the beginning of May. Any that show up late are not wasted, but will be used the following year.

dudes22, I cannot tell you how very wonderful it is to get a box of books with a note telling me not to hunt for the mooch in the BfK pending!

Thank you to Peta for collecting the Captain Underpants books, and to Gerri for the Animorphs.

Gerri, I've just opened up the three bricks of books you sent. Talk about packaging! You can always go work for a drug cartel if your current career path doesn't work out for you. Nothing was going to happen to those books!

Thank you!

Ohh sounds like an interesting career change...I wonder do they pay for postage ?

Seriously I'm happy the books arrived safely and I wrap all my books that way.

Some nice people on here gave me some great tips.

LT is great place & although I don't post here often I read a lot of the posts on a regular basis.

Wow, guys. The books are pouring in. My mail carrier no longer likes me!

Peta, your packages could serve as the ball in a moderately violent rugby game and come out of it unscathed.

Michelle, it would not be possible to fit more books into a single box. Not even one.

The books are all lovely and piling up in a satisfactory manner. Tomorrow I plan to sort them, clean them, count them and box them. It's all much more fun than it sounds; it's enormously satisfying to see the quality and quantity of what BookMoochers have contributed.

And I'm expecting several more boxes from you guys. Thank you all.

Yaaaaay!

RidgewayGirl, maybe your mail carrier should think of it as job security!

Virginiahomeschooler sent us 78 books, all in fantastic shape--everything from early picture books to late elementary school chapter books, including my favorites, Frog and Toad, and The Fire Cat.

Thank you!

Three crates of books from the post office were sitting on my steps when I got home today, and held, among other packages, a very heavy box from dudes22.

Thank you, dudes22, not only for the books, but for also including a note explaining that they were not mooched, which saved me hunting endlessly through the pending pages for a large mooch from Rhode Island!

As soon as I get the big boxes out and start packing things up for Athens, I'll give you guys a count of how many books we've collected. Remember, I've dropped off more than a thousand.

You're very welcome. Seems easier than having you mooch them and then giving the points back. Can't wait to hear how many you've got.

I'm so excited to read all these posts, and wish you could all be in Athens to witness the joy on the kids' faces when they learn the books are theirs, for free, for keeps. Things are happening so fast that keeping the blog updated is just wishful thinking right now. I promise I'll get caught up, even if it's not til after the books are distributed. THANK YOU ALL!
Melaney
(Books for Keeps)

Two people to thank today--

Chelonianmobile, thanks for that massive box! (and for the one for me (I'll receive it momentarily)). All those books are so well chosen and in such great shape.

ElizabethShorley, thanks for that large donation. I notice the boxes of books more, because I'm the one unpacking them, but we go through points at an alarming rate and they are appreciated every time we mooch more books.

Which goes for everyone here, really. Thank you for all your enormous help.

You are most welcome! Such a wonderful program!

It would have been much more fun to pack a box for you but I think I'm DONE with packing for about 5 years now... the sound of tape from my tape gun makes my children cry~!

I have another box about half full of books. At the RSO sale today, it was 50% off all kids books, so I picked up more than a few. If I can find a better box I will send them asap so that you get them in time.

This might be a stupid question, but... are Twilight books still wanted?

I mooched one from an iffy member with the intention of reporting to abuse if they rejected, but it seems like I might actually get the book. I don't care for the series, so if kids are still interested in them...

Heather: If Booksforkeeps doesn't take it, I know the Mathesonlibrary charity will.

Heather - we will need Twilight books for next year. We've finished our high school distributions this year, but with a new movie coming out the books will be back in demand for next year's program. Thank you!

As I counted the books in the last crate, the mailman brought me several more, including a large box from Jenni_Canuck.

Thank you all--you've collected 1,983 books so far since my last trip to Athens. Pretty impressive! I'll give you an updated count just before I leave, but I really didn't think that there were that many piled up in random stacks in the spare room. On my last trip, I brought down just over 1,000 books.

There would have been substantially fewer books, fewer popular titles, fewer new books and a smaller selection of titles without all your hard work.

Amen, RidgewayGirl! 19,455 books! Can't wait til May....
http://booksforkeeps.blogspot.com/2011/04/19455-books.html
(Can anybody tell me how to insert a link without posting the entire URL?)

Fantastic! I love that there will be enough books so that each child will have a choice of books.

184> Use an HTML tag set - <a href="paste/type URL here">words you want to be the link</a>

The quotes around the URL are necessary, I believe.

so

Books for Keeps blog

The movers are here! Delivering 17,000 books today....

We now have an email newsletter sign up form. Not that anybody has time to actually WRITE a newsletter, but someday we might... Here's the sign-up form if you're interested.

I just got back from helping with the distribution at the first school. 350 kids got 12 books each. I'll let you know what it was like after a good night's sleep.

Just...kids are excited and so pleased to get 12 books. I wish this were happening in every public school, everywhere.

It must've been so exciting! I mean, obviously for the kids, but for everyone involved, seeing how happy and excited the kids are, seeing them pouring over the books... Gosh!

First, let me point out that my children are watching TV on a school night. Then, let me tell you about today's book distribution at Fowler Road Elementary. This is the school that is getting the books we collected, so it was excited to get to be there today (and tomorrow) and see our books out there on the tables. I recognized a bunch of them and expect to do the same tomorrow when we give book to the older students.

Twelve's a big number and every class just got excited at the news that they would pick out 12 books each. It was so much fun to figure out what each kid liked and then to show them books they might like. All those fairy books that Peta and Michelle sent have been grabbed with enthusiasm. Virginiahomeschooler, I recognized a few of the books you sent as they were stuffed into their Books for Keeps tote bags.

Midway through the day, I ran out for a soda and passed a line of kids waiting to go into the cafeteria. They recognized me and it took some time to get all the hugs they wanted to give me. One girl told me that she wanted MORE BOOKS. How cool is that? This is something they want and are hungry for. How many schools can we provide for next year? Could we use this thread to throw out ideas? Does anyone else dream of seeing Books for Keeps in every school in the US someday?

I'll work up a new wishlist next week based on what we've learned at these distributions. Take a deep breath everyone and we'll start seriously collecting books again next week.

You're a rock star, RidgewayGirl.

I have a few very good condition Deltora uest books that were just given to me. I already have my own set so if they are wanted for BFK I'll put them aside for you. I've got 1-7 and a double copy of 4 & 5. I'll be scouting the local Salvation Army stores probably around July. I cleaned them out pretty good last year and hadn't seen anything in visits in February so I thought I'd wait a few months before going back to clean them out again.

Glad the books are wanted so badly!

I am so happy and excited for those kids. 12 books each - that's awesome!

It's garage sale season here, and I have been collecting books when possible. I had one person give me over 20 books for free today when he heard I was sending them to BfK. By this fall, I should have another massive box saved up, and then I'll make a road trip down to the states to send for cheap. :)

Quick question tho: I keep running into R.L Stein and Christopher Pike books that I remember being popular in the 1990's/early 2000's. Is there any demand for these books? If so, I'll start picking them up too.

They are, but only for older children. It's my understanding that while Bfk will still provide books to all ages of schoolchildren, they will be concentrating on kindergarten through fifth grade. Goosebumps are tremendously popular, though. If you see any of those...

Guidance counselors, librarians and teachers of middle and high school kids are getting the BfK books to kids in those schools, so if you have sent in, or have some books for older children, they will still be put into the hands of the kids who need them.

BfK does plan to double the number of children getting books, which will be a challenge!

That's funny that Goosebumps are still so popular. That series has been around forever!

Oh, I've seen some Goosebumps books in a charity shop recently. Are you interested in mooching from Australia?

Books for Keeps sounds like a fantastic idea, what a wonderful way to get books to children who can't afford it! :)

Do you not prefer ex-library books? I'll keep an eye out for any series mentioned, that is if you are interested in mooching from Australia...

We'll gladly mooch from anywhere! We do need books in good shape because these may be the only books some students have ever owned. They take enormous pride in owning them and we are careful to make sure that the books they choose are something to be proud of, so we avoid ex-library or well used books that can give the message that the students aren't worth new and like-new books.

In case anyone's hitting the garage sales or is going through the books in the kids' rooms, here's a very incomplete list of the books we can't get enough of.

Junie B. Jones series
The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series
Goosebumps series
The Captain Underpants/Super Diaper Baby series by Dav Pilkney
The Magic Schoolbus series
The Amelia series by Marissa Moss
Animorphs series
Any DK Reader books
Books about dinosaurs, snakes, sharks, ocean life
Children's joke books and riddle books
Books about fairies or princesses
Lego series books
Pokemon books
Superhero books, especially ones featured in recent movies
books based on current children's shows
Poison Apple and Candy Apple books

Kids are drawn to books with bright, modern covers. Dark or old-fashioned covers don't easily get picked up.

Animorphs, really? That brings back memories!

What exactly is "good condition"? I definitely understand no ex-library or loose pages or water damage, but what about a little crease on the cover, something like that?

I think I've seen Cam Jansen too. Oh, and a Pokemon or two... Okay, I'll keep an eye out for books in good condition that are not ex-library. There's some of those in charity shops and the secondhand bookshop.

What about the Go Girl series? Or Pony Pals / by Betancourt series? Yes I've noticed today's kids seem more into the brighter covers. Thanks for the shortlist. I can't make any guarantees, but may get lucky and see something! Does it matter if it has previous owner names inside covers (just in case I see those), or do you prefer without any markings like that? Those fairy books tend to be very popular with today's girls. Oh, yes, Ivy+Bean is popular too, and Dear Dumb Diary (looking at the wishlist). All very bright and colourful.

May I recommend Peg Kehret books for the teenagers? They are very popular, quick reads and would likely be interesting to those who don't read much. The topics are very relevant.

Another author I thought of to recommend for primary school age children is Andy Griffiths, who's very popular here. I didn't see any by him today; books by that author get well-used in schools.

Would they like anything from the Tashi series? I saw some in good condition (some edgewear) for $2 each but did not get them. One of them had the remains of a sticker on the front, but they all had good binding and shiny covers. If you're interested though, I can get some maybe next week or so.

I returned from town a few minutes ago and found a few you might like. I won't list on BookMooch until you state which, if any, you'd like. If you want to see photos, please let me know. I'll detail them in the next post.

I did see another Go Girl! series book (a double story in one) but it wasn't in as good condition (had a vertical cover crease). I also saw more Pony Pals and Pokemon but they had more cover wear, so didn't get those either. All books are secondhand, and are closest to the best I could find. I mention if there's any markings I can find below, and the condition notes that will be on it. No worries if you do not want any, as I'll just list them for whoever wants them. Do you mind seamail (2 to 3 months)? That way I can send as many as you would like, should they be suitable.

1. Claire Saxby, Snow Play (Go Girl! series)
Minor corner crease bottom corners, minor edgewear, good near very good condition. Binding good.

2. Laura Dower, The Boy Next Door (A Candy Apple Book). I got this since I recalled you mentioned Candy Apple. It has cover wear/edgewear so not perfect, one dogear now flattened so barely noticeable, good condition. Binding good.

3. Tracey West, Attack of the prehistoric pokemon (Pokemon). Minor small crease bottom corner front cover, minor cover wear/edgewear, two minor creases bottom corner back cover. Binding good.

4. Tracey West, I Choose You! (Pokemon). Minor crease bottom cover corners, minor cover handling wear/minor edgewear, short name blacked out top corner first page. Binding good.

5. Tracey West, Island of the Giant Pokemon (Pokemon). Minor cover wear/edgewear, crease top corner front cover, horizontal crease on spine but otherwise good, short name blacked out top corner first page. Binding good.

Next post: 7 Pony Pals books.

6. Jeanne Betancourt, The Story of our Ponies (Pony Pals Super Special #2). Minor edgewear/cover wear. Binding good.

7. Jeanne Betancourt, Runaway Pony. Minor cover wear/edgewear. Binding good.

8. Jeanne Betancourt, Keep out, pony!. Minor cover wear/edgewear. Binding good.

9. Jeanne Betancourt, The Saddest Pony. Minor cover wear/edgewear (small spot worn to white top corner front cover), book has slight wave to it when viewed side on. Binding good. (You may not want this book based on that condition, but it's still in good condition.)

10. Jeanne Betancourt, The Winning Pony. Minor cover wear/edgewear. Slight wave when viewed side on (would be fine kept flat under books). Binding good.

11. Jeanne Betancourt, Movie Star Pony. Minor cover wear/edgewear. Binding good.

12. Jeanne Betancourt, Too Many Ponies. Minor cover wear/edgewear. Binding good.

I don't know if you'd like any of these Pony Pals books since there appears to be plenty available... but thought they'd be worth a try. They're still popular!

The Go Girl books are perfect, as are the Pokemon and Candy Apple.

The kids didn't go for the horse books. Our best guess is that the world represented is so foreign to kids in households struggling to get by that there's no point of reference. One of the keys to getting kids to move from being read to to reading successfully on their own is having books to read where they could picture themselves as a character, preferably the main character. There are now so many more books where the characters aren't all blond girls in comfortable surroundings, but fewer than one could wish for.

As for condition, names inside are fine. Melaney does a great job of telling the students that the person whose name is inside a book is the person who wanted to share that book and that, because the books they choose will belong to them, they can write their name inside the books too. We are aiming for books that look attractive laid out on a table with dozens of other books. A crease or two is fine, yellowed pages are fine, especially on books like the Goosebumps series, where many are older. What we do avoid is books that are ex-library or visibly battered and worn. BookCrossing books are also difficult, because we are emphasizing that the books are theirs - to keep forever or to trade with friends.

Oh, and picture books are also needed. Same guidelines, if the cover is overly old-fashioned it won't be chosen quickly.

We do have volunteers helping the kids, as well as teachers and we can hand-sell the award winners or the great books with dreadful covers (so many good books are packaged to appeal to educators and parents, rather than to kids and it frustrates me!), but the kids are so much more excited with the books they discover themselves. And our goal to give kids books that they will read over the summer because they want to. Once they're hooked, then teachers and librarians can move them over to "worthier" fare. But if it takes Captain Underpants or The Day My Butt Went Psycho to get a kid to read over the summer, then that's what we'll provide.

Therefore you would like the Go Girl, Pokemon and Candy Apple books? I will list them probably late today when I have spare time to do so.

Are they urgently needed or is seamail okay? I'd have to check weight to see if it's affordable airmail. The two thin books already mooched can go airmail letter rate.

That's understandable about the horse books. I did see plenty of Goosebumps books but nothing in as good condition, and some had edge splits that needed repair (which I would have done, but it wasn't worth it if they weren't acceptable condition for Books for Keeps, and Goosebumps are probably very common...). I didn't see any acceptable picture books (wasn't sure what was wanted anyway in that area) as often they have considerable wear. There's plenty of non-fiction animal books but some are ex-library, and some were about animals they probably wouldn't see (Australian ones). I did see a reasonably nice copy of Nine True Dolphin Stories but decided not to get it for some reason (maybe a sticker mark or something, I forget now). None of these are bookcrossing, I don't like those markings either in books I keep.

I never cared whether a book was battered or ex-library growing up because often I obtained books from garage sales or swap meets (akin to car boot sales but on a large oval or showground where people set up stalls once a year in various locations, selling their stuff cheaply; they were great places and I found many childhood favourites), and that was all I could afford, though I think my family was lucky in the rare instance we did receive a new book as a present.

It's funny, but most the newer modern covers don't appeal to me! :) I like detailed realistic drawings mainly, but it really depends on the book too (eg. Roald Dahl's books are as popular as ever, with Quentin Blake's fantastic easily recognizable illustrations!).

Another author I saw yesterday was Paul Jennings, which is still popular with kids here, but didn't get any. Let me know if you're interested in that author's books. (Unreal, Uncanny, etc. they're funny stories, can be gross, with colourful covers.)

Another I thought of is the Island trilogy by Gordon Korman. I have book one that I'm halfway through, in good used condition with hardly any cover wear (a bit of minor cover wear/edgewear, that's it) with no markings, binding good. It's a great series. I read the second book first, never mind... that was mooched away. It should be fairly easy to find copies. I found the first book locally in a charity shop. This trilogy would be good I think, as the covers are appealing: the fronts you can see on LibraryThing, the back covers have a photo of all the kids ranging in age from upper primary to mid-teen age. The characters are from a range of backgrounds, two siblings fight with each other (worldwide phenomenon), one was wrongly accused, one the son of an actor (but most people in the world don't have that experience! Don't use that as an excuse not to read it), one has a pushy father, and other reasons I haven't found out yet. Some of the characters are from poor backgrounds if I recall. The stories are fast-paced, and in book one you learn a lot about boats and sailing. Wikipedia page about the Island trilogy. I always wondered if they had made a movie out of it as the series is really good. From the wiki: "Six troubled children who are part of a new scheme called 'Charting a New Course', or CNC, an extensive program that removes troubled children from society and forces them to cope with hardship and problem-solving aboard the Phoenix, a ship headed for Guam. There they supposedly learn the values of teamwork. They are the sibling rivals Will Greenfield, 13, and his sister Lyssa, 12; framed felon Luke Haggerty, 13; exercise addict Charla Swann, 12; Discovery Channel-dependent and couch potato Ian Sikorsky, 11; and rich, famous Hollywood actor's son, attention seeking JJ Lane, 14."

Would tales of survival appeal to the teens/upper primary school age children?

Korman's Island trilogy is a good one, as are survival stories in general. And the Paul Jennings sound good. Gross and/or eerie are always good. Please send them all sea mail. We'll need them in late April/early May, so there's plenty of time, even for a boat.

My kids are fine with battered and ex-library books, I grew up with library discards with horrible brown covers. But we're readers. We know that the important stuff is inside. But if you're not a reader, if books are daunting, then the covers are tremendously important. And many of these kids get nothing but cast-offs and discards. We want them to value the books and to understand that they deserve "the good stuff".

Seamail it is, and will delay until September when I'll have a few more books to include. I'll look either late this week or next week for Paul Jennings books. There ought to be some in decent condition I think, and it would make the secondhand bookshop guy happy! I will finish Island book one and list that on BookMooch for you too. :)

I was just wondering when Melanie might need books as it didn't say on the blog if she passes out books at any other time then in the spring. I've been gathering books at the library sales this summer (but not e-library books) and have a few boxes worth to send but will hold off for a while. Unless you want them sporadically during the year so you don't get hit with a big glut in the spring. Not sure what you/BFK has for storage space. Was going to PM you later but now I don't need to.

The books have been reserved on BookMooch for you. I'll look for any decent condition Paul Jennings books in the next week or so.

dudes22, Books for Keeps has just moved into new quarters. Because there are so many books involved, they are collected and sorted all year long. The distributions in April and May are not the only times books are needed, but most of them are given out at the end of the school year.

It's a lot more manageable to collect books steadily, although I suspect there will be the usual rush at the end!

Here is another popular children's author with very bright colours on the covers.
http://www.morrisgleitzman.com/books/fst_books.html
Morris Gleitzman

I got a whole stack of Goosebumps books at a garage sale today! Also some Diary of a Wimpy Kid books and a few randoms. I think I will post them now, reserved for booksforkeeps, and post the rest when I get back home next week.

You found a lot of great books! Thank you! Let me know if I've missed any.

I reserved a couple Paul Jennings books for you, obtained and reserved yesterday.

I got them, bookel. Thank you!

RidgewayGirl one last book is listed for you. :)

Just posted a bunch more for booksforkeeps :) Now I will have a nice box to send out!

I'll get those mooched tomorrow. I'm getting back on schedule now that school has started.

Hey everybody - I just logged on for the first time in a while; it completely made my night to see these lively discussions about Books for Keeps. I wish all of you could attend a book distribution and see these kids' faces... it's life-changing.

School started back last week in Athens, and I heard from my contact at one of our recipient schools that the kids have come back to school talking about books in ways they never have before. The teachers are excited, and the kids read their books!

I just posted an update about our plans for May 2012. We will need more books than ever, and I appreciate your help.

Thank you all!
Melaney Smith
Books for Keeps

PS: RidgewayGirl, you are a lifesaver. What would Books for Keeps do without you?

That's fantastic. :)

I was running early for an appointment today, and I happened to be near a local thrift shop. I have been collecting clothes for a little girl who's recently been displaced from her home, and I thought I'd pop in and see if they had anything in her size. While I was there, I noticed they also carry books. Lots of books. I was so excited to find some really good children's books, thinking I could pass them along to BFK until I saw that they had marked the prices on the front cover in big bold SHARPIE!! Not only that, but when the price would go down, they'd just mark it out and write another. Some of the covers were barely recognizable underneath all the ink. I left with some cute clothes for the little girl, but unfortunately bookless. Oh well. There's always the friends of the library sales.

Oh that's sad! I hate it when they put black marker on book covers. Most charity shops here luckily put a price sticker on that is usually removable without damaging the book.

Just sent a 17lb+ package! Yay! I included a couple of extra books, so don't worry if there are a few that you can't find a mooch request for.

..... 17 pounds?! holy mowly!

Yeah I had a few I had been saving, and then I had some really good luck at garage sales. I also stopped by a thrift store in town that sells their kids books for cheap. My bookmooch says I sent 54 books (plus I added a few extras). It cost $11 and some change in shipping... that's with splurging for delivery confirmation and insurance.

Less than it would cost to send one larger book to Europe :/

What?! That's really cheap postage within your country for that number of books! That would cost a lot more for me to send within my own country here. And all the books were in good near very good condition? I must be picky as I haven't found that many I would deem as such, not without repairs or being ex-library. I mooched a couple of books hoping they'd be suitable but they are not due to a spine crack and an almost loose page that didn't repair well. Most charity shop books I've been seeing weren't as good condition as the ones I am sending. I'm happy to say the ones Books for Keeps did not want went to a library that could use them. :)

In the US we have a media mail rate that is ridiculously cheap. That's part of why so few US members want to send abroad, it's a LOT more expensive. Yes, the books were all in good condition, many of them like new. I did buy a few at the thrift store that were not suitable upon closer inspection, but I just posted them to bookmooch as normal (and of course described everything in the condition notes).

I've been picking up books from the local library sales this summer where a lot of books are not ex-library books and am hoping to box up some this weekend to send off. I've been debating whether to go by media mail or use one of the USPS flat-rate boxes, but it sounds like a media mail box might be the better way to go. I'll have to prepare a box and weigh it and then decide.

Media mail will be MUCH cheaper than a flat rate box.

>233 Rajapi: Rajapi,

I flagged your message but I will also post to explain you why.

LT is not a place for self-promotion. A thread about a charity is even less suitable for you bragging about your own book (or a friend book, or whatever). If anything, you just ensured that I won't pick up that book at all. If you want to help Book for Keeps, send them copies of the book. Or any other children book. Posting your promotion here does not help them.

17 lb = 7.71107 kg
Here a 2-3 kg parcel would be $11.20 within the country in red/white satchels (cheaper than regular parcel price). We don't have 'media' rates that I know of...
7-8 kg within the country would be $26.55 regular parcel (maybe cheaper if that were split). Overseas is more of course, which is where seamail makes sense with parcel rates, especially to avoid the $9 extra surcharge over 500 g to the USA.

Since this thread is at 236 posts, might be a good idea to start a new (less kb loading) thread?

Please send any books by the cheapest way available to you, whether that's media mail or sea mail or whatever. We don't want you to get home from the post office and think about how expensive that was. We want you to really want to find more books for BfK! You guys are the source of many of the best books we have to offer.

I've started a new thread over here:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/122688

See you there!