Free Books for Redwood City... and America

By Tanja Vierra

Who is helping to give out half a million free books all across America on one day?         

I am.

From Kodiak, Alaska, to Key West, Florida, in 6,000 towns and cities across America, 25,000 volunteers will give away half a million free books on one day: today, April 23, 2012.

World Book Night U.S. is an ambitious campaign to personally give out thousands of free, specially printed books across America. Volunteer book lovers like myself will help promote reading by going into our communities and handing out free copies of a book we love to new or light readers, reaching them especially in underserved places – and even some fun spots.

Volunteers will be picking up the books at a local bookstore or library in order to go out and share them in locations as diverse as VA hospitals, nursing homes, ballparks, mass transit, diners, and more.

I am very proud to be a part of the first World Book Night in the U.S., following the impressive launch of this campaign in the UK and Ireland last year.

Tonight, with 20 copies of The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, I will be handing out books in the downtown Redwood City area. It is one of my all-time favorite books and one I have read now three times.

What I like so much about World Book Night is that it is designed to promote reading to people that are not necessarily avid readers but maybe just need to be given a really good book to become so.

I realized after I chose The Poisonwood Bible, that there are parts that are challenging to digest so I have decided to create a special email address (wbngiver@yahoo.com) to give out with the books inviting the reader to email me if they have questions or comments, hopefully starting a book discussion of sorts.

I also like the idea of designating April 23rd as a day to give a book that you love to someone you love or even someone you don't know. If you read a bit on their website, this is a custom in the Catalan region of Spain. I would like to do something with this next year on a broader scale with maybe the library or local booksellers/publishers. I would especially love to do this with Spanish language books at my son's Spanish Immersion school next year.

For more information about World Book Night, please go to www.worldbooknight.org

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