You book-lovers adored the top 25 books sold on BetterWorldBooks.comso much last month that we’ve decided to produce this list for you each month. Yes, we aim to please.Have you read any of the top 25? Which are your favorites? Have any predictions for November’s list?

Without further ado, here are the top 25 books sold on our website in October.

25. The Giver by Lois Lowry
24. A People and a Nation
23. The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
22. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling
21. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger Read more…

Guest post by Dianne de Las Casas, Award-winning Children’s AuthorMy family and I live in the New Orleans area. On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina ravaged the U.S. Gulf Coast. We evacuated to Houston, Texas. We ended up staying for a year while my husband returned home to rebuild. My two daughters, Soleil and Eliana, who were 15 and 5 respectively, left everything behind save for a week’s worth of clothes. We were fortunate because so many people were compassionate, giving us clothing, food, and toys. We were grateful for every gift but there was something missing – our book collection.

Both of my daughters had shelves full of beloved books. We all bonded over the shared experience of reading picture books. Both Soleil and I loved cuddling up with Eliana to read her a good book. So I made a trip to the book store and bought one of our favorite picture books, Wild About Books, by Judy Sierra and illustrated by Marc Brown. Read more…

Guest post by Gwendolyn Edwards, I’m BOOKed Reading InitiativeHow many times have you heard a news report or seen a documentary about an issue that moved you? Anyone that knows me understands that I can spontaneously combust into sobs without a moment’s notice. But, it is not enough to be moved. There are issues going on around us that we can actually do something about. One of those issues is literacy.

Read more…

The best and highest use of a used book is for someone else to read it and pass it on, or to donate it to someone in need. However not all used books can be shared or sold and the last resort for these should be recycling (unfortunately it is still all too often landfill). But there is a niche before recycling to make creative use of otherwise unwanted used books, and I’d like to share a few of those fun and useful ideas with you here.

Books, by material composition, lend themselves well to recycling. Whether hardback or paperback, they are of course paper based, which comes in handy when cover-to-cover flipping ends and potential for reuse begins.

Time and time again, we come across great book reuse examples on the pages of 1-800-RECYCLING.com. Use your imagination, and it has probably been accomplished. And all of this repurposing, reusing and recycling means big savings for Mother Earth. After all, why toss a book aside when reading it is only the first thing you can do with it?

Read more…

Guest Post by Pattie Baker, Author of “Food for My Daughters”“Let me know when it comes out on Kindle,” my neighbor told me, referring to my recently-released book. That day is now, and I know this makes the book more convenient for those who rely on that technology, but I won’t be joining my neighbor as a Kindle user just yet. I love the feel and weight and smell of a book too much.

I love the dog-eared pages, sometimes the same one over and over as I squeeze lines or paragraphs into stolen moments in a busy day. I love the way wine and chocolate and whatever I was stirring in the pot while standing there holding the book stains the pages, leaving indelible reminders of my life. I even love the messy remains from writing in the margins, my left-handedness smearing the ink, and the way the curled edges of the cover tells the story of a sudden rain while I was sitting on a curb, reading, waiting for a child or a friend.

Read more…

I just adore Top 10 Tuesdays. Our Facebook and Twitter fans never cease to amaze me with their creativity, thoughtfulness, open hearts and minds.It is so important to make a positive impact in the lives of others each day of the year – but we recognize that the spirit of giving is even more in the air as fireplaces light up, the snow begins to fall and hot chocolate becomes a staple drink.The question: What are the top ways people can make a difference this holiday season?

The most “liked” answers:

8. Love your neighbor in all ways.

7. Help others by giving our time, resources, and/or money. That’s what we are here for: To love and help one another.

Read more…

The National Center for Family Literacy and Better World Books are proud to announce 20 mini-grants winners that have proposed creative ideas for using Wonderopolis® with families.
Wonderopolis provides family-friendly content that is practical, easy to use and designed to engage children’s natural curiosity and transform it into a lifelong love of learning. Wonderopolis is a place where wonder and learning are nurtured through the power of discovery, creativity and imagination through “Wonder of the Day.” Wonders of the Day will help you find learning moments in everyday life, ones that fit in with dinner preparations, carpool responsibilities, a stolen moment between breakfast and the bus, or within school curriculum and education programs. You can explore all this innovative site and community has to offer here.The National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL), which is the worldwide leader in family literacy, created Wonderopolis. More than one-million families have made positive educational and economic gains as a result of NCFL’s work, which includes training more than 150,000 teachers and thousands of volunteers. Read more…