& Bookwinkle's Children's Books
Book Angels
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& Bookwinkle's Children's Books
Book Angels
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We get letters!
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And emails! Hi -- Thanks for the inspiration. We have a Children's Book & Puppet Shop in Queensland,Australia and are going to introduce Book Angels this year to our community. We provide resources to families and schools and to youth workers who work with abused children so this project is dear to our hearts. Warmest wishes for a wonderful Christmas and I hope the Book Angels spread some joy and peace across the world.
Yvonne Russell, Just Imagine Bookshop, 5 Blackall St, Woombye. Qld. 4559, Australia |
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The holiday season finds Bookwinkle's Children's Books alive with angels. Since 1994 we have collected the first names (along with age, first language and interests) of children in need on the Mendocino coast. The names are supplied by teachers, parents, and community groups such as the Food Bank and homeless shelters. We display each child's particulars on a "book angel" which hangs in a beautiful wooden display we call a "firmament of stars." Bookwinkle's customers are encouraged to pick the angel(s) that appeal to them and purchase a book (or books) for those children. Bookwinkle's volunteers spend many hours wrapping the books and decorating the packages. We track, sort and deliver the books to the children's sponsors for gift giving at holiday time.
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| In 1998 we were delighted to provide more than 650 children with books. For some of these children it was the first book they had ever owned. We have been inundated with handmade thank you cards from the children. Every year this program grows larger and more successful, and we love it and love doing it.
At 6 p.m. on December 11, 1999, our last Book Angel child was chosen by "Late Night Liz" (Liz Helenchild), a great and generous person and a friend of children. Her purchase marked the finish of an astounding achievement for everyone involved. This year we inadvertently had added children from inland Mendocino to our usual coastal kids, for a total of more than 800 children in need of a book this season. Our customers responded enthusiastically; most of our staffers bought Book Angel books; we had at least one entire family who made Book Angels their family gift instead of giving to each other; and a number of sales reps, house and independent, sent free books to help fill in the gaps if all the Angels had not been sold to the public.
We have to end this project each year before school ends so the wrapped books and cards can get back to kids in school before they go home for the holidays. As many people, myself included, don't start thinking about shopping and presents until just days before Christmas, we find ourselves disappointing numerous people who walk up to the counter and ask how they can take part in the Book Angels project. We tell them the names of a number of community services (Child Protective Services, Big Bros/Big Sisters, etc.) to which they can donate directly; and remind them to start earlier next year. And we thank them sincerely and emphatically for thinking of the Book Angels. We tell them they have earned a brownie point or two anyway. It's good Karma, and it keeps.
Our wish for next year would be that more bookstores (and other stores) in our county would take up the project and cover their own local children more thoroughly than we can. We are extremely happy we can contribute so many beautifully wrapped books to our community. As I write, the back of my car is stuffed with boxes of presents going to local schools today. Hooray!
Best, Tony
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