Little Retro House

Donating Books

As most people who read this blog know Bill and I are bookaholics. One of our favourite things to do is wander around dusty old bookshops looking for that elusive "gem" that we don't own and haven't read yet. We are so book addicted we have a bookcase in our bedroom for those midnight fixes. And yes, we do read books in the early hours of the morning if we can't sleep.

Which is why the following statistics stunned me:

61% of low income families have no books in their homes.

43% of adults with a low literacy level live in poverty. In contrast, only 4% of adults with strong literacy skills live in poverty.

Children who grow up with a large variety of books in their home have been shown to be more creative, imaginative and proficient in reading.

We have so many books they even get their own chair to sit on. These are current bedtime reads.

I encourage you to go through your bookcase this weekend and pick out 10 books you know you are never going to read again. Deliver them to the local school, preschool or womens shelter.It's something good you can do for the environment and your local community that is low on effort and high on feel good factor.

Oops, more books in the bedroom waiting for a home

The hard part for me (as you can see) is physically separating myself from what I consider to be my very close friends. I mean, Pride and Prejudice has been my very close chum through about 8 boyfriend breakups now. So of course, there are books that must stay with you for life.

But I'm sure like myself you have lots of books that are just filling up space on the bookshelf. Just see if you can give away 10 this week - especially childrens books which are so desperately important in the development of literacy skills in our young.