Dear Friend of Reader To Reader,

I hope you enjoy this newsletter about the Reader To Reader Book Project. Our success is very much due to your donations of books, postage money, and most of all your generous spirit. Please forward this newsletter and help us spread the word.

This month I’m pleased to announce the launch of Reader To Reader’s Mississippi Book Project. This project expands on our work in Mississippi last year, and directly aids over 24,000 students in grades K – 12 in 21 of the poorest schools districts in Mississippi. These school districts are desperately poor with over 90% their students poor enough to receive free lunch. Many of these schools have 99 or 100% of their students on free lunch.

We have already begun shipping boxes of books to the school libraries in towns such as Durant, Belzoni, Ruleville, Marks, Rolling Fork, Benoit, Webb, Woodville, and thirteen others, and we look forward to helping these schools for many years to come.

I am pleased to report that the response from these schools has been tremendous. Here is some of the feedback we have received:

Dear Mr. Mazor:

Thank you very much for the books you have been sending us. It has gone a long way to updating our neglected library media center.

Meager funding had resulted in the neglect and decline of our collection for the past 20 years. The materials you have been sending have breathed new life into the collection. As a result, students and faculty are rediscovering the wonders of books. It is phenomenal to observe this as it happens.

All of the students at Durant High School are from economically deprived homes. They have few printed materials in the home. Durant is located in a rural area in Holmes County. Our school population is about 98% African American. The entire school qualifies for free lunch. It is hard to see so much potential in our students and know that the library media center does not have the resources they desperately need.

I am so grateful for the books and materials you have been sending us. They have updated the subject area collection and provided new books to read for pleasure. Every box you send is like Christmas for us. The faculty and students are so appreciative.

Thank you for your continued contribution of books to Durant High School. We look forward to continued participation in the Reader to Reader program.

Sincerely,

Suzanne C. Ahlvin, Library Media Specialist
Durant High School
Durant, MS

Dear Mr. Mazor,

I am delighted that you called yesterday with information about the Reader To Reader program. Our school was knocked down by a tornado about 6 years ago. We are a K-12 school and I am slowly rebuilding our collection of books. Any books you send us will be thoroughly appreciated and enjoyed by our students and faculty.

I will remain in contact with you as our needs change over time.

Thank you again.

Sincerely yours,

Thea Rogers, Librarian
S.V. Marshall K-12
Lexington, MS

Dear David,

The first shipment of books from Reader to Reader just arrived and we can't thank you enough for including us in your program. Our students will benefit greatly from the 22 new titles we are able to add to our collection.

The Reader to Reader organization truly makes a difference in the lives of our students. Thank you again.

Sincerely,

Marian Gurlen, Librarian
West Tallahatchie High School
Webb, MS

In addition to these letters I would also like to share a letter we recently received from the governor of Mississippi for our work this past year.

Reader To Reader
Mississippi Book Project
Attn: David Mazor
Cadigan Center
38 Woodside Avenue
Amherst, MA 01002

Dear Friends:

As Governor of the State of Mississippi, please allow me to thank you for your leadership and strong commitment to the precious children of our state. The work you have done with the Mississippi Book Project has been a wonderful tool for our schools in Durant and Belzoni. Reader To Reader, Inc. has made it possible for the most needy school districts to provide books to their students at no cost to them.

Your donations have helped provide hundreds of books for our children and libraries. These resources will be a big part of the leaders they will become. Everything you do helps improve the quality of life for these children and many Mississippians have now benefited from your services, some of these you may never know. Thank you for offering to aid Mississippi Schools and I hope you continue to do so in the future. You are appreciated.

Best wishes for continuing success in your future endeavors. Please feel free to call on me if I may be of assistance to you in the future.

Very truly yours,

RONNIE MUSGROVE

Here are highlights of just some of our recent book shipments:

Shaw High School, Shaw, MS

• Beloved
• The Works of Aristotle
• Norton Anthology of Poetry
• Tigers
• The Water is Wide
• A Civil Action
• Modern Classics of Suspense
• Oxford History of the American People
• Diary of Anne Frank
• Empire Falls
• Over 40 other books

Simmons High School, Hollandale, MS

• Managing Science Fair Projects
• Oh! Freedom
• Waiting to Exhale
• The Long Valley
• Black Beauty
• To Be A Slave
• Eleanor Roosevelt
• The Stand
• The Voice of the Coyote
• Over 50 other books

Ray Brooks High School, Benoit, MS

• Civil War: A to Z
• I Never Promised You A Rose Garden
• Dracula
• The Temple Of My Familiar
• I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
• Witness
• Famous Problems in Mathematics
• Over 40 other books

Wyoming Indian School, Ethete, WY

• In The Spirit Of Crazy Horse
• Lakota Woman
• Hoop Dreams
• Medicinal Plants of The Mountain West
• Magic’s Tough
• Over 70 other books

Dillard University, New Orleans, LA

• Fractals Everywhere
• The Lupus Book
• Invisibility Blues
• Best Of What We Are
• The Harmless People
• Women, Culture & Politics
• Over 65 more books

John Essex high School, Demopolis, AL

• The Ants
• History Of The African People
• Pioneer Writers
• Paul Robeson
• Complete Poems Of Robert Frost
• Last Train North
• Jacob I Have Loved
• Evy’s Civil War
• Over 35 more books

Roosevelt Elementary School, Compton, CA

• The Push Cart War
• Rainforest Secrets
• Big Al
• Heidi
• Follow That Cat
• All I See Is Me
• Who Lives in The Zoo
• Helen Keller
• Over 50 more children's books

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. We've shipped thousands more.

Special thanks to June Turcotte for volunteering her time to collect, organize and box up books.

Until next month,

Sincerely,

David Mazor
Reader To Reader

To be added to this newsletter please email dmazor@readertoreader.org