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.

We have had lots of wonderful letters from librarians and principals on the impact of Reader To Reader on their schools and this month I am delighted to share with you a letter from a student at Navajo Pine High School in Navajo, New Mexico. In the letter he refers to manga, which is the Japanese word for comic book or graphic novel, which is a type of book with fast-growing popularity. While enjoyable in their own right, manga also serves to build literacy skills by putting text into eye-catching graphics.

Dear Mr. Mazor,

My name is Micah Laughing, I go to school at Navajo Pine High School in Navajo, New Mexico and I am a library assistant. I would like to personally thank you for all the books you have sent us, especially the books about manga. The library staff and I have started a manga section in the school’s library and I am holding a manga contest where the students of the school draw and write their own manga stories.

At first, I thought only a few of my friends and me were into anime and manga but the response to the contest has been extraordinary. Many students have come to me and asked for help on how to draw manga characters of their own. Thanks to the “How To” books you have sent us they’re learning the secrets of drawing.

I am a senior this year and I am happy about the books you and your organization have sent to our school. I am a huge fan of anime and manga books and am proud of my accomplishments in creating a section in our library preserved for only manga. I am happy to include the manga books you have sent us and now future students can enjoy those books and learn from them.

If I may, I would like to tell you my view about manga. Manga to me is a way to relax and read fascinating stories. Most manga books are small and thus we enjoy a small story compared to huge novels. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy novels as well. My favorite novel is Paradise Lost by John Milton. What I am trying to say is that manga is a way to get away from the ordinary books and be able to step into the story more easily.

Mr. Mazor, I thank you for all the books you have sent, and the library staff as well sends their thanks.

Sincerely,

Micah Laughing,
Student at Navaho Pine High School

July is a great month for us because it is the month that we receive some of our most prized books; a great big box of books from the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial in Washington, DC.

Each year, the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial presents an annual book award to the author whose work reflects Robert Kennedy’s concern for the oppressed; his commitment to justice, democracy and human rights; and his belief in the power of individuals to affect social change.

Past winners of the RFK Book Award include Vice President Al Gore, Congressman John Lewis, Toni Morrison, Randall Kennedy, Neil Sheehan, Robert Coles, Anthony Lukas, Stephen B. Oates and Jonathon Kozol.

After the award process is completed, the RFK Memorial donates the many fine books that were entered to Reader To Reader. It really represents a treasure trove of some of the most interesting nonfiction on human rights themes published in the past year.

Recently, we spent several hours searching online college library catalogues in order to place these books in libraries that needed them. Our focus was on historically African-American colleges and universities and the institutions that received these books included: Bethune-Cookman College, Tougaloo College, Huston-Tillotson College, Southern University at New Orleans, Dillard University and Barber-Scotia College.

We can’t wait for next year’s book awards!

Chipping away at it. That’s Reader To Reader’s approach. Week in and week out shipping boxes of books all across the country. Box after box. Over time it brings big results. Here’s a note from Homer St. Elementary School in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Dave,

Thank you so much for the last three shipments of books. They were terrific, especially the Junie B. Jones and Goosebumps books! These are the current favorites.

Over the past two years you have donated to Homer St. School about 1,000 books, which represents a 25% increase over the 4,000 books we had in our collection.

Your organization is the best! Thanks again for all your help and have a great summer.

Gratefully,

Denise Rock, LMS
Homer St. Elementary School

Thank you for reading this newsletter and I hope you are enjoying your summer.

Sincerely,

David Mazor
Reader To Reader
http://www.readertoreader.org
email: dmazor@readertoreader.org

Please help us with a tax-deductible donation.

Here are just a few of our recent book shipments:

Southern University at New Orleans, New Orleans, LA

• The State Boys Rebellion
• The Sorrows of Empire
• The Disenfranchisement Myth
• Dying in Vein
• One Nation Underprivileged
• Asylum Light
• Educational Freedom
• 15 more

Greensboro West Elementary, Greensboro, AL

• Clifford the Big Red Dog
• Just a Nap
• The Runaway Bunny
• My Teacher Glows in the Dark
• Optical Tricks
• Iggy Pig’s Beach Day
• Julie of the Wolves
• 55 more

Woodland School, Woodland, ME

• The Solar System
• Reptiles and Amphibians
• The Moon Maiden
• Silk Umbrellas
• Hunger Moon
• Morning Girl
• The Measly Middle Ages
• 65 more

John Essex School, Demopolis, AL

• Dogsong
• World of the Short Story
• Fearless Jones
• Field Guide to Insects
• Jayne Eyre (CD)
• Wuthering Heights (CD)
• Great Expectations (CD)
• 40 more

Akron West Elementary, Akron, AL

• Just Add Fun
• Baby Bug
• Arthur’s Pet Business
• Mission: Addition
• Who Has My Mitt?
• Ghostville Elementary
• Elephants
• 75 more

Navajo Pine High School, Navajo, NM

• The Solar System
• Indian Rock Carvings
• Indians of the Great Plains
• Children of the Light
• From the Borderlands
• Rama Revealed
• The Wailing Wind
• 50 more

Tougaloo College, Tougaloo, MS

• Time’s Arrow
• The Runaway Universe
• Unraveling Piltdown
• Principles of Physical Cosmology
• The Nine Numbers of the Cosmos
• Looking for Earths
• Asteroid: Earth Destroyer or New Frontier
• 8 more

William McKinley School, Boston, MA

• Journey to America
• The Littles Take a Trip
• Class President
• Riddle Roundup
• Ghosts!
• Little Women
• The Two Best Friends
• 200 more

And that's just the tip of the iceberg!