Happy Valentine’s Day lovely friends and fans! We love you guys. We also love books. Therefore, we love characters who love one another. And you love them too.I asked our Facebook and Twitter following who their favorite fictional couple is and here are the most-loved (liked) answers:

1. Elizabeth Bennet & Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice

2. Claire & Jamie from Outlander

3. Catherine & Heathcliff of Wuthering Heights4. Gone with the Wind’s Scarlett & Rhett

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Post by Austin Currier, BWB Bibliographer for Antiquarian, Rare, and Collectible Books

When I was twelve, my family vacationed in Traverse City, on the Northern peninsula of Michigan. I took to wading in the shallows of the lake and digging for Petosky stones, which are small rocks covered in hexagonal fossilized patterning (often only visible when the stones are wet). Now, they’re not actually too uncommon there, but it’s the only place in the world they exist. In the few days we were there, I must have gathered up fifty of them to bring home.

No one else in my family was particularly good at spotting them amongst the other rocks on the beach. They got bored and gave up. But I meticulously combed the shallows, eagle-eyed and obsessed with plucking them out of the water. It wasn’t about the rocks being valuable, or useful.  It was the thrill of the hunt. Of finding the things that no one else could, or cared to. Every rock was a trophy awarded for its own discovery.Now, I can’t buy books without dustjackets anymore.

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That’s right folks, our 2nd Annual LEAP for Libraries Grant Application is NOW OPEN and we’re searching for today’s library program game-changers.

What is LEAP?
LEAP stands for Literacy and Education in Action Program.  A portion of every book purchased on BetterWorldBooks.com supports literacy and education around the world.  We use LEAP as a way to support libraries and literacy non-profits through grants.  

Who Won the LEAP for Libraries Grant Last Year?
Approximately 3.5 million dollars worth of grant requests and almost 240 applications were reviewed by the Better World Books Literacy and Library Council in 2011. While there were countless worthy projects, six emerged as the winning grant recipients.  You can find their winning grant stories at www.betterworldbooks.com/librarygrants.

What Grants are Available This Year for Libraries?
This year, $30,000 in funding is available; maximum grant amount per project is $15,000.

• Projects should address the literacy needs of underserved populations in their community. Literacy needs are defined by broadly identifying, understanding, interpreting, creating, communicating, and computing information to live a more fulfilling and productive life.
• Libraries may pitch only one project each, with a maximum award of $15,000. Please be sure to clearly outline the project elements that require the requested funds.
• Projects that involve partnerships with local government agencies are highly encouraged.
• Projects that will have a measurable and long term impact on an underserved population and will continue to operate after grant funds have been utilized will be looked upon favorably.
• Better World Books looks forward to reviewing applications that bring a fresh and inspired approach to challenging issues.

 

When is the Deadline?
February 6th – Applications open.
April 9th – Applications due.
April 10-May 30 – Selection period.
May 31 – Winner announced!
June 2012 – Donations dispersed.

I’m Sold! How Do We Apply?
Go to www.betterworldbooks.com/librarygrants for more information and to download the application..

Please share this opportunity with all remarkable library partners and friends you know!

 

My mom is an educator. Growing up, she always told me that she – and all my teachers – had eyes in their back of her head. She also said that she never had time to use the restroom, to each her lunch (or dinner for that matter), to check her email or voicemails, or even to take one of those deep yoga breaths she so loves.I tended to have a meaningful, teacher’s pet relationship with my teachers. I remember thinking they had plenty of time to eat lunch, use the toilet, chat with their fiances on the phone and play with us in sports after school. Apparently, I did not believe my mom and I also seriously took my sweet teachers for granted.

The past few months I have spent time in a diverse array of schools cross the country filming success stories of our non-profit partners empowering students, teachers and families through education. Everyone who meets me thinks I have this huge enthusiasm for life and a love for my work which gives me an immense amount of energy. Well friends, I am exhausted. These teachers work. so. hard. Read more…

Industry analysts widely agree that to really hit a task-driven home run, natural synergies must be achieved that [1] critically add value, [2] engage in total quality (TQM) management, [3] ramp up win-win productivity, and [4] aggressively pursue mindshare on a holistic level. OK, are all the supervisors gone?  Good.  It’s the second annual Shop From Work Week! Read more…

Try reading this short story and closing your eyes to think about it:

Imagine you are four years old. Your parents farm the food you eat every day. You sing songs and dance in joy around your fruitful village with your many siblings. Life is good.

Now you’re five years old. You just started primary school and are so excited to get a freshly pressed pink and blue uniform, books and a composition notepad. You walk home from school with a smile on your face. Your mother looks frightened. She stumbles through your sack of clothes and sends you off to sleep in the jungle. You are too scared to sleep.

For five years you walk to school, never getting a new book or uniform again. Each night you hide in the jungle, fearing that you will be kidnaped and forced to attack your family, become a sex slave or to do whatever the rebels ask of you. This is the only life you could ever see for yourself.

Fast forward ten more years. You are now 20 years old and you are about to graduate from University with a degree in Accounting. You have a fresh pressed uniform again, loads of books, and control of your future. Your life has completely changed.

What happened?

Watch Agnes’s story to find out.

A couple months ago, Better World Books posted a list of books people could read in order to see different parts of the world through the perspectives presented in literature.  I was really honored and thrilled that my first novel, One for Sorrow, was included on the list of books for the United States.  Not only was John Steinbeck, Harper Lee, Stephen King and F. Scott Fitzgerald on that list, but there was me and my first novel!  How could my little novel be one selected as book through which a reader could “see” the United States?

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You think you get 80 years.  Steve Jobs’ recent death knocked the wind out of that one, and snapped back into focus for me that we have one day (this day) to live our fullest lives.  Jobs had barely been on my radar–I have never owned an Apple product, and I’ve walked into an Apple store exactly once, while on vacation, simply to check my email (I don’t even text).  Yet, I saw that face looking up at me at the last of the big-box book stores.  And for some reason, he spoke to me (smart marketing decision, that face).  I requested the book from my husband as a holiday gift, and I received it.

Thus began my life transformation.  First, let’s start by saying that I read books rather slowly, not because I’m a conscientious, deliberate reader but because by the time night comes, the opening of the book and the almost-immediate closing of the eyes have become a Pavlovian response.  It is common for me to dog-ear the same page day after day after day.  So picking up this 600-page behemoth elicited snickers from my family.

Yet Steve quickly became my constant companion.  He rode with me in the car and stood in line with me at the post office.  He walked with me to the supermarket and I read while I strolled (carefully).  He even kept me company during that annual three-hour mammogram/ultrasound appointment where I mostly shuffle from waiting room to waiting room in a blue gown, hoping to dodge the family-history bullet for another year.  Two other women brought him as well, and thus began what became a common occurrence over this timeframe for me–the recognition of a secret society of people completely addicted to this book.  We smiled at each other, we talked briefly, and we collectively dove back in, almost sorry when our names were called.