Worthy Cause: Fill the Shelves!

Fill The Shelves is the brainchild of a small group of writers - but we were all readers first.  Kids who tucked into corners and forts and crannies at our school libraries, harassed the librarians for something new to read, fed our imaginations with the worlds we found in the pages.

Not one of us can imagine growing up without books.

The basics: School librarians compile Amazon wishlists for their school libraries. FTS puts willing donators in touch with these wishlists, the donors order the books and Amazon sends them directly on. It's a very simple way to help many, many children.

When I was a child, there were a simple handful of things that mattered to me: Writing, drawing, roaming outdoors, and, most of all, reading. I was blessed with a mother who read voraciously, and teachers and librarians who were there every step of my education with book recommendations. We were not a wealthy family, so I relied heavily on my school's library and our neighbourhood book mobile program to feed my growing interest in books. Through these portals, my life as a reader became essential to my life as me. If it weren't for books, I would not be who I am today.

Like the FTS organizers, I can't picture childhood without books.

This new charity came to my attention last week, as it was started by a number of indie authors I know online. I'm not affiliated it with it in any way, but I wanted to help spread the word. As readers/writers/humans, it is in all our best interests to engage kids with reading, to keep school libraries up to date, and to help teacher-librarians foster literacy. So far, the org has been a smashing success. As of last time I looked, $4,500 worth of books have gone to libraries in need!

But there are now three new school libraries added that need support.

If you're a school librarian or would like to help, please, check it out!