Our Partners - Better World Books Blog - Book Reviews, Author Interviews, Community Outreach & more

Funds Raised for Global Literacy:

$10,184,799.20

Books Re-Used or Recycled:

63,271,794

The National Conference on Family Literacy

Posted by Better World Books on 05.10.2013 at 1:18 pm

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(Guest post by Lisa Avetisian, Manager of Development Operations at National Center for Family Literacy.)

Libraries definitely had a presence at the 22nd Annual National Conference on Family Literacy, which concluded on Tuesday, April 30, in Louisville, KY. Read more…

Have your say » | Tagged Our Partners

UK readers: Save the date for this Fun Run with the National Literacy Trust

Posted by Tommy on 01.31.2013 at 10:45 am

Did you make a New Year’s resolution this year? Maybe you decided to get more healthy and active? Or to contribute something to your wider community? Or just to meet new people? Whatever it is, the National Literacy Trust can help.

On Sunday 24 March we will be hosting the first ever Where’s Wally? fun run in Victoria Park, London. Read more…

Have your say » | Tagged Our Partners, better world books UK, National Literacy Trust, NLT, Where's Waldo, Where's Wally

Another Way Invisible Children Educates the World

Posted by Erin on 03.14.2012 at 9:59 am

You may have recently become aware of Invisible Children through their #Kony2012 Campaign to stop Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony by the end of this year. We have partnered with Invisible Children for years to help rebuild the education system in post-war Northern Uganda.

As you will see in our latest impact video below, Invisible Children is working hard to uplift Northern Uganda from the inside – through education – and we are honored to support their education programs.

There are millions of teachers across Africa hoping to learn more about student-centered teaching and praying to be able to provide individual books to their students. Each time you donate a book to, buy a book from, or share Better World Books with friends, you are helping more teachers like Elizabeth lift up the next generation of Africans. Thank you!

7 Comments » | Tagged Company News, Impact, In the News, LEAP, Our Partners, Video Impact Story

Hardships Cannot Keep this Cambodian 2nd Grader out of the Library

Posted by Erin on 03.08.2012 at 9:45 am

“I want to be a doctor, so that I can help people,“ says the bright, smiling second grader, Narin. “ I am working hard to get there and I am confident that I will be able to fulfill my dreams.” She says these things in Khmer, the language of Cambodia and also the familiar and frightening name of the Khmer Rouge.

From 1975-1979, the Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia. They ruled by genocide, killing every educated person they could. You would even be killed if you wore glasses, because they assumed you knew how to read. The Khmer regime wanted to rebuild Cambodia as a completely agrarian society empty of books, schools and educational progress.

Just 30 years later, Cambodians like little Narin are falling in love with learning thanks in part to our partners at Room to Read.

Have your say » | Tagged Impact, Impact Vignette, Our Partners

We are the Official Bookstore of Ideas Worth Spreading

Posted by Erin on 02.25.2012 at 7:34 pm

That’s right TEDsters, TED fans and all of you who have no idea what TED is or stands for – we are the official bookstore of TED. And that’s a good thing.

2 Comments » | Tagged Book Lists, Company News, In the News, Our Partners

Meet Jordan: A Dog Taught Him How to Read

Posted by Erin on 02.24.2012 at 9:20 am

Three years ago, Jordan Piper thought “reading was the hardest thing in the world.”

Today, his mom cannot get Jordan to put books down. He even reads while brushing his teeth, running errands with his family and with a flashlight under his sheets after bedtime.

So what flipped the switch for this young boy? A dog named Drew.

Thanks to a Better World Books grant to Intermountain Therapy Dogs R.E.A.D program, their local chapter of READing Paws was able to teach Jordan to read.

If it were not for you donating books to and buying books from Better World Books, Jordan and Drew may have never met and Jordan may be falling behind in elementary school. Thanks to you, however, Jordan and Drew are best friends and flourishing readers together! There are many more children out there – in the U.S and all over the world – who can benefit from reading with therapy dogs and every time you chose to shop with us, we can help more of them.

Did you know that dogs can help people learn to read? What do you think about that? Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the video and Jordan’s story below.

6 Comments » | Tagged Impact, Our Partners, Video Impact Story

Leading the Green Building Revolution from an Unexpected Corner!

Posted by Erin on 02.22.2012 at 9:48 am

Guest post by Judy Knight, Director of PR and Marketing at our partners in greening, Southface

Southface proudly partners with Better World Books, a social enterprise with a focus on sustainability. The partnership includes Southface hosting a Better World Books Drop Box. The program helps Southface provide a much needed outlet for pre-loved books in their community. Better World Books is also supporting the Southface Greenprints Conference – you can learn more in the post below.

Back when the U.S. Green Building Council and the now universally recognized LEED green building program were still in their infancy, a nonprofit called Southface was quietly changing city- and neighborhood-scapes through its annual Greenprints Conference, a gathering in the most unlikely of regions: the Southeast.

1 Comment » | Tagged Book Lists, Company News, Our Partners

A Treasure Trove in Every Book – Literally!

Posted by Erin on 02.20.2012 at 9:15 am

Guest post from a New York Librarian and Book-Driver, Terry Canavan

Stories reside inside books but sometimes the book itself has a story to tell. Better World Books is one of the largest resellers of used books insuring none find landfill which makes me very happy to see a book continue on its journey to inform and enlighten the next reader. Maybe it is because I am surrounded by stories all day, but I get quixotic notions of where the books in the Better World Books donation box are headed. Once in a while, when I empty the donation box and sort out its contents, I get a clue as to where the book has been.

It seems that some people like to take books on vacation to enhance their vacation experience. Postcards gathered from their day trips serve as profound bookmarks showing how immersed the reader was in the books theme. For example, I found a postcard from the Outer Banks of North Carolina, not with the picturesque photo of a lighthouse, but with a picture of a very gray, angry ocean that would signal the incoming of a significant storm. Here is the punch line; the card fell from the book “Vampirates: Tide of Terror.”

3 Comments » | Tagged From our Friends, Our Partners

Our mission: to end the book famine in Africa.

Posted by Erin on 02.15.2012 at 9:48 am

Guest post by Books for Africa’s Communications Specialist, Maggie Meyer

At Books For Africa, we take global literacy seriously. Since 1988, we have sent over 26 million books to 46 African countries, making us the world’s largest shipper of books to the African continent. We are committed to the idea that books are tools of literacy. These tools will build the foundation for economic development and a brighter future for a fast rising continent.

Have your say » | Tagged From our Friends, Impact, Our Partners

Meet Agnes: She Went From Hiding in the Jungle to Becoming an Accountant

Posted by Erin on 02.06.2012 at 4:21 pm

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.