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.

What a month we had last month. We had our second annual Reader To Reader book drive at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA. It was a big success with over 2,000 books collected. While there I also had the wonderful opportunity to speak to 300 enthusiastic elementary school children. My message to them was simple. There has never been an easier time in history for you to make a difference.

I pointed out that not that long ago you could read the newspaper and learn about problems and needs across the globe, but you really had a hard time finding a way to connect to those problems and help out. Today, sitting at your desk, and thanks to the Internet, you can not only learn about problems, you can quickly and easily become part of the solution. You can connect directly to those in need and to organizations providing aid.

The Internet has created a powerful tool for connecting people no matter what the distance. Today, we can not only read about the great need in the world, we can now connect to it as never before.

I’ve got some wonderful news. As far back as the 1960s the Tohono O’odham elders wanted a college located within the Tohono O’odham Nation, and now they have one.

Over the past two years we have been aiding the Tohono O’odham Community College in Sells, Arizona to build their library. Library resources are part of the criteria necessary for accreditation and their library had meager resources. Recently I was contacted by their head librarian who told me that they have received their accreditation and that the books we have sent have definitely played a part in meeting their library requirements.

The Tohono O’odham Community College motto: “Ñia, Oya G T-taccui Am Hab E-ju: Our Dream Fulfilled.”

Speaking of resources, April was a great month for increasing Reader to Reader’s resources. In addition to the Hall of Fame Book Drive, On Friday, April 1, the Barnes & Nobles Booksellers in Hadley, MA, donated a mountain of new children’s books purchased by their customers and staff during the months of December, January and February.

It was a quite a mountain of books and our van has never been so full. The Barnes & Noble staff did an incredible job collecting books and left last year’s record of 200 books donated in the dust. This year they donated over 1,500 books! Truly an amazing job.

The books were donated to at an in-store ceremony presided over by Congressman John Olver. West Springfield Superintendent of Schools, Suzanne Marotta, and Memorial Elementary principal, Geraldine Moriarty, were presented with over 500 of the children’s books to boost the school’s library. And, teachers and children from Memorial Elementary were on hand to shop for an additional $300 in special books purchases using a cash award provided by Barnes and Noble and administered by Reader To Reader. The children did all the book selection and you should have seen how carefully and thoughtfully they shopped for books for their fellow classmates.

After the ceremony Superintendent Marotta and I discussed adding another West Springfield school, Coburn Elementary, to the program.

Here is a note from Superintendent Marrotta:

Dear Mr. Mazor,

I deeply appreciate all you did for our Memorial School students. We also discussed another school in our district that would greatly benefit from a gift of books. Coburn Elementary’s enrollment fluctuates from 405-420 students with a continuous flow of students entering and leaving the school. The income level of these student’s families is such that 76% are eligible for free or reduced price lunch program. Of the current enrollment, 29% are in the English Language Learner program. The vast majority of these students are from former Soviet Union states, speaking Russian or Ukrainian. Any assistance you could provide to this school to increase the number of books available to the students would be greatly appreciated.

Again, I deeply appreciate all you did for our Memorial School students.

Sincerely,

Dr. Suzanne Marrotta
Superintendent

I am pleased to report that on Tuesday our volunteer, Jim Bess, brought Coburn Elementary their first shipment of 150 books. There will be many more to follow.

Last but not least, we want to thank Congressman Olver for helping us celebrate the Barnes & Noble donation. His enthusiasm for Reader To Reader and the joys of reading definitely won over the kids from Memorial Elementary.

Here is a wonderful letter from Congressman Olver:

Dear Mr. Mazor,

I would like to offer my congratulations and appreciation to you and your organization for the hundreds of thousands of books that you have donated to schools in Massachusetts and across the United States. Your work has enabled students of all ages to have access to up-to-date resources and to discover the joy of reading. With the tight state of school budgets, your concept of recycling gently used books to fill school libraries could not be timelier.

Please keep up the good work and know that the people of Massachusetts thank you for your dedication to fostering literacy and academic achievement.

Sincerely,

John W. Olver
Member of Congress

That's all for now.

Until next month,

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:

Marvell High, Marvell, AR

• The Blues
• Hank Aaron
• Mary McLeod Bethune
• The Realm of the Gods
• In the Company of Cheerful Ladies
• Backyard Bugs
• With Billie
• 35 more

Memorial Elementary, West Springfield, MA

• Superfudge
• The Kid Who Ran For President
• The Phantom Tollbooth
• The Incredible Journey
• Ramona Quimby Age 8
• I Can Tell Time
• Harriet The Spy
• 95 more

Alphonso Crutch Charter School, Houston, TX

• The Story of World War II
• The Color Purple
• Native Son
• The Grapes of Wrath
• Dinosaurs
• Roots
• Into Thin Air
• 40 more

Coburn Elementary, West Springfield, MA

• Under the Hawthorn Tree
• Street Wizards
• The Enormous Egg
• Madeline
• Kit Williams
• A Child’s Garden of Verse
• A Fine Mouse Band
• 145 more

Navajo Pine High School, Navajo, NM

• The Encyclopedia of Native-American Tribes
• The Civil War
• Dictionary of Puns
• Romeo and Juliet
• Richard III
• Elements of Style
• The last Season
• 80 more

Millvale Elementary, Cincinnati, OH

• Paul Robeson
• Love That Dog
• Biscuit
• Morris the Moose
• The Indian Subcontinent
• Interstellar Pig
• Kidzilla
• 55 more

Monticello High, Lake Providence, LA

• Emma
• Jane Eyre
• The Secret Garden
• The Scarlet Letter
• Leaves of Grass
• Gulliver’s Travels
• Dracula
• 40 more

And that's just the tip of the iceberg!