Volunteers sought to give away free books

ByMatthew Crane Reading Time: 3 minutes

If someone gave you 20 copies of popular books could you find 20 people to give them too?

If you are up for the challenge the Jasper Public Library, Ferdinand Branch Library, and Dubois Branch Library are partnering with World Book Night U.S. to hand out as many books as possible in the area.

Here is a video about the event.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/DTfoEUaybNQ]

According to Christine Golden, coordinator at the Jasper Library, volunteers from the three area libraries will join libraries in 6,000 towns and cities across America with the goal of giving away half a million free books on one day; April 23, 2013.

This is third year of the event and the second year these libraries have participated locally. According to Golden, last year 15 people participated in the event locally and she thinks this year’s participation is even greater.

[box style=”rounded” border=”full”]World Book Night will take place on April 23, 2013; if you want to volunteer sign up by Friday Jan. 25.[/box]

The goal of World Book Night U.S. is to coordinate 25,000 volunteers across America to give a total of half a million books within their communities to those who don’t regularly read. Volunteer book lovers will help promote reading by going out and personally giving free copies of a book they enjoy to new or light readers, reaching them especially in underserved places – and even some fun spots.

The local libraries act as pickup points for the books when they are distributed around April 23. Volunteers can contact the libraries for help in getting signed up for the event. “You sign up on the website and when you receive a confirmation e-mail they will ask you where you want to pick up the books,” Golden explained.

Volunteers can then choose their closest branch. “We had someone come down from Montgomery last year because they couldn’t find a closer participating library,” Golden explained.

Thirty titles were chosen by a panel of booksellers and librarians through several rounds of voting. The printing of the free books was possible due to generosity of the authors, publishers, and book manufacturing companies.

91b1b90c684fd8e5c2ec1b7418ca380f_XLThose books include many popular entries like Rick Riordan’s The Lightning Thief, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, and titles from other well-known authors like John Grisham, Margaret Atwood and Paulo Coelho.

Here are the 32 titles for 2013.

  • The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
  • City of Thieves by David Benioff
  • Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
  • My Antonia by Willa Cather
  • Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
  • The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
  • La Casa en Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros -translated by Elena Poniatowska
  • The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
  • El Alquimista by Paulo Coelho
  • The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
  • The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan
  • Bossypants by Tina Fey
  • Still Alice by Lisa Genova
  • Looking for Alaska by John Green
  • Playing for Pizza by John Grisham
  • Mudbound by Hillary Jordan
  • The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster; illustrated by Jules Feiffer
  • Moneyball by Michael Lewis
  • The Tender Bar by J.R. Moehringer
  • Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley
  • Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life by James Patterson
  • Population 485 by Michael Perry
  • Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman
  • The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
  • Montana Sky by Nora Roberts
  • Look Again by Lisa Scottoline
  • Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
  • The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
  • Glaciers by Alexis M. Smith
  • A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain
  • Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
  • Favorite American Poems in Large Print edited by Paul Negri

Volunteers sign up on the World Book Night website. They will have to make three book choices and explain why they wish to share these books and where they will go to personally hand out the books.

World Book Night in the U.S. is a non-profit organization, and has 501(c)3 charitable status and is supported by publishers, Barnes & Noble, the American Booksellers Association, the American Library Association, Ingram Content Group, United Parcel Services, and fifteen printers and paper companies; a full list of sponsors is at the website, www.worldbooknight.org.

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