2010 January - Better World Books Blog - Book Reviews, Author Interviews, Community Outreach & more

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J.D. Salinger dies at age 91

Posted by admin on 01.28.2010 at 2:33 pm

According to the Associated Press, legendary author J.D. Salinger passed away yesterday, January 27th, 2010 of natural causes. He was at his home in Cornish, New Hampshire where he had lived in self-imposed isolation for many years.

Salinger was best known for THE CATCHER IN THE RYE which sold over 60 million copies since it was published in 1951. His other books include FRANNY AND ZOOEY and NINE STORIES.

Read the complete story on the New York Times blog.

Have your say » | Tagged Book & Author News, Catcher in the Rye, Franny and Zooey, J.D. Salinger, Nine Stories

2010: A New Year a New Decade – Part 1

Posted by David on 01.27.2010 at 12:22 pm

In a three part series starting today, our fearless leader, CEO David Murphy explains his optimistic outlook on the new year and the new decade.

Hard to believe it is already 2010. It’s not just a new year, but a new decade and there is so much opportunity in front of us! Why am I so bullish? Well I have three good reasons, the first of which is:

Those who believe in us:

Our customers. Our customers see great value in what they are getting from us and they let us know. We are adding thousands of new customers every week. They like our selection, our prices, our great service. They keep coming back; they actively promote us to others (we have raving fans!) and they are helping us build a brand that stands for something good, something that is making a positive difference in this world, something they believe in. They enthusiastically support our mission and are passionate in letting us know what they think. We are far from perfect but my promise to all of our customers is that we will keep trying to get better; to truly earn their faith and their business each and every day; to deliver on the brand and the mission we are building together.

Our employees. The most talented, diverse and enthusiastic group of employees with whom I have ever worked. Period. I am both honored and humbled to serve each and every one of them.

Our non-profit literacy partners. The true heroes on the front lines who are delivering every day on our mission to promote and support literacy and education here in the U.S and around the world.

2 Comments » | Tagged Company News, 2010, Library Partners, Non-profit literacy partners

Intermountain Therapy Animals Reading Education Assistance Dogs (R.E.A.D.) wins $20,000 Readers’ Choice Literacy Grant

Posted by John on 01.21.2010 at 10:24 pm

Do not underestimate the power of man’s best friend! The winner of the first Readers’ Choice Literacy Grant is an innovative program that uses therapy dogs to help improve kids reading, the Intermountain Therapy Animals (ITA) R.E.A.D. program.

The reading-challenged kids in the program often suffer from low self-esteem and view reading as a chore. But dogs don’t judge, so reading to them removes inhibitions and helps a child focus. It makes reading fun and creates a positive, memorable experience that stays with kids for a long time.

In the R.E.A.D. program, each child reads aloud to a therapy dog in either their local library or school. The books are age and level appropriate, and often animal related in topic. After a child accomplishes the reading of ten books (which may take weeks, depending on skill level), they receive a brand new book of their choice that can be “pawtographed” by their canine reading companion. Thus, books are sent into the homes of the children. You can read all the details about the program here.

I had the pleasure of calling Kathy Klotz, Executive Directory of ITA, to deliver the news. (That was fun – it’s not every day I get to give away $20,000!). After she caught her breath, Kathy was good enough to compose a statement for our press release:

We are simply overjoyed to be chosen as recipients of the Readers’ Choice Literacy Grant, and so grateful to Better World Books and every single person who voted for R.E.A.D. We know the competition was tight and every finalist had great merit. Our goal is for every child to grow up loving books and reading, as the foundation for a lifetime of learning. Because of the great power of the human-animal bond, reading to a dog is an ideal way to build skills, confidence and, not least, great enthusiasm.

Well said, Kathy! Especially when referring to the competition participants – we received a host of proposals from so many organizations that are passionate about literacy – it was wonderful. You can read all the finalists’ proposals here. I’d like to thank everyone who participated, it is inspiring to see so many people out to improve our world through literacy!

12 Comments » | Tagged Company News, Readers' Choice Literacy Grant

Better World Books Podcast: Janice Y. K. Lee

Posted by Dana on 01.21.2010 at 5:19 pm

pianoteacher-250 Ask any overnight success how easy their success really was and they’ll tell you it certainly didn’t feel overnight to them. Janice Y. K. Lee is no exception to that.

THE PIANO TEACHER is Janice’s debut novel and she admittedly didn’t have too much trouble finding a publisher, but she did spend 5 years writing the book as well as several years in a graduate writing program and several years reviewing and reading books for Elle and Mirabella magazines.

As with any artist Janice wasn’t sure she could write a novel let alone get it published and she is thrilled about how well the book has been received. And with good reason.

THE PIANO TEACHER takes place in Hong Kong during WWII and then in the period 10 years after the war. It is a story of the glamorous seeming British Read more…

Better World Books Author Podcast [ 10:26 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1005)

Have your say » | Tagged Author Podcast

Invisible Children Wants Your Books

Posted by admin on 01.20.2010 at 9:30 am

Today’s guest blogger Aaron King, one of our most amazing Better World Book Getters fills us in on the Invisible Children book drives and the impact your books are having in Northern Uganda.

Invisible children recently told me that we have 20 days left to “raise” 100,000 books.

And I was like, “What? You want me to hold a box of books up over my head”?

Ok, Ok… I understand the program: thousands of IC supporters across the country are feverishly collecting books which they ship to Better World Books’ warehouse where they are sold to generate funds to promote the peace process in Northern Uganda as well as rebuild and strengthen local schools.

And yes, whoever “raises” the most books wins a free trip to Uganda. But that is actually not important in the grand scheme of things. The real power of this program is the combined efforts of hundreds of book drives across the country.

4 Comments » | Tagged Our Partners, Aaron King, Chase Community Giving, invisible children, Northern Uganda

Invisible Children Needs Your Vote!

Posted by admin on 01.19.2010 at 9:30 am

Chase Bank is giving away $5 million to various charities through its Community Giving program and our partner Invisible Children is in the running. Check out the video to see how they’ll use the money!

Cast your vote AND help spread the word.

1 Comment » | Tagged Contests, Impact, Our Partners, Chase Community Giving, invisible children, Invisible Children Video

Feed the Children Mobilizes in Haiti

Posted by John on 01.18.2010 at 12:35 pm

Feed the Children, a Better World Books partner, sent us this update on their activities in Haiti:

Cash donations to the relief effort in Haiti can be made at www.feedthechildren.org or by calling 800-328-2122.

We have supplied partner agencies Operation Compassion, Children’s Hunger Fund, Lifechurch, First Haitian Church, Kingdom Resources, Reach Out America, Healing Hands International and Family Outreach Ministries with product from our distribution centers in California, New Jersey, Texas, Indiana, Tennessee and Oklahoma. Included in that cargo is sleeping bags, water, coffee, team, bags of flour and Crocs shoes. We have also purchased duffle bags and flashlights to include in the shipments. This cargo adds up to almost a million pounds of supplies that are being sent.

Office Depot, Crocs, Glory Foods and Carolina Beverage are some of our partners providing product and monetary donations to help the effort.

Our medical clinic in Carrefour suffered extensive damage, but we have been able to salvage two and a half tons of Vitameal from the facility and it has already been distributed to the people. That distribution will provide 60,000 Supplies there are running low but we are shuttling more in through the Dominican Republic. Our clinic has been in operation in Haiti since 1981 and we normally serve 7-8,000 people per month, dealing with basic medical needs and providing food. Right now, they are providing medical assistance in the streets and transporting victims to field trauma centers.

1 Comment » | Tagged Our Partners, Feed the Children, Haiti, Relief Effort, www.feedthechildren.org

Book Club Update

Posted by Dana on 01.14.2010 at 3:49 pm

It’s been awhile since I’ve blogged about the Better World Book Club and a lot has happened since August! We’ve been reading some great books and we are starting some live meetings at participating Whole Foods Markets in the Atlanta area.

We’re now announcing books a month ahead of time so that you can participate in our online and local discussions. Our newest pick – which we’ll be discussing the first week in February is THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO by Junot Diaz.

Stay tuned for details on a twitter discussion – and also feel free to comment right here on the blog!

Our January pick is AWAY by Amy Bloom and the local discussions are taking place tonight at 7PM participating Whole Foods Markets.

Previous picks include:

OUTCASTS UNITED by Warren St. John
THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows

Have a book you’d like to suggest? Want to set up a live local meeting near you? Email me at bookclub@betterworldbooks.com.

Have your say » | Tagged Better World Book Club, Amy Bloom, Annie Barrows, Atlanta area, Away, Better World Book Club, Junot Diaz, Mary Ann Shaffer, Outcasts United, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY, Warren St. John, Whole Foods Markets

Our New Partnership with Feed The Children

Posted by John on 01.12.2010 at 5:29 pm

We are very excited to announce that we’ve partnered with Feed The Children (check out the press release). We just got things going with them in October, and already we’ve jointly provided over 300,000 children’s books to families in need!

We recently toured Feed The Children’s Elkhart, IN facility where we learned about FTC’s programs and saw the books we’ve donated in action. FTC delivers personal care shipments to families in need which include 3 boxes: a box of food items, a box of personal care items, and a box of Avon products. Since our partnership started, they’ve been including 10 children’s books in each box of personal care items.