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Announcing Books for Kids 2017!

Wednesday, April 19th, 2017

And now donations are Tax Deductible too!

Just got your taxes done? Wish you had had more deductions? We have good news! Now, when you donate credits or PBS money to our Books for Kids donation program, you can claim those charitable contributions on your Federal taxes.*

A love of reading has a lifelong impact — no one knows that better than a member of PaperBackSwap! We’re constantly being asked by members if we can expand our annual Books for Schools campaign, to get more books to more needy kids. We set out to find more organizations who would like new books. We didn’t have to look very far: sadly, PaperBackSwap’s home state of Georgia’s school system is ranked 32nd in the US, and it has the largest dropout rate in the country. We plan to select a different US state for each future round of donations.

Our goal is to give each child 2 books for their summer reading. All the teachers are being encouraged to ask the kids to bring the books back to the classes in the Fall, so that they can swap them with other kids. A great way to learn about sharing!

Click Here to Donate

Our list of recipients includes five Title I schools (meaning each school has a high percentage of children from low-income families) and a summer camp for kids:

Since these are all 501-C3 organizations, PBS Money and Book Credits donated to them can be recognized as tax deductions on your Federal tax forms. *

You can make your donations of Book Credits and/or PBS Money to either the schools or the camp  (or both if you like!).

Click Here to Donate

We’re thrilled to note that one of our members, Jerrie , volunteered to donate ALL of the credits to supply one of the schools (Midway). A huge donation from a huge heart! Thank you, Jerrie — the students at Midway will love their books! If you have a lot of credits, and want to make a big donation, please contact us for help facilitating that.

We thank all of our members who donate — no donation is too small! Every single Book Credit turns into a book for a child, and a single book has the power to change a life, as PaperBackSwap members surely know.

We believe that fostering an early love of reading helps kids all through their lives! Thanks for considering a donation of some of your unused credits and PBS Money to these worthy charities.

Richard and
The PaperBackSwap Team
www.PaperBackSwap.com

 

*We can’t offer tax advice, so please consult your tax preparer to discuss this in more detail — she or he may want to consider the cost to you when taking the deductions for Book Credits. For example, if you purchased the Credit from the Kiosk, then that price could serve as the basis of your tax estimate, whereas if you mailed a book to earn the Credit, then the cost of the postage, wrapping materials and gas expense to visit the Post Office could all be figured in. Again, please talk to your tax preparer about how best to take advantage of making a donation to a charity.

Books for Schools 2016

Monday, November 28th, 2016

motd BFS 2016 altDear Members,

The air has a chill, the days are shorter, and the leaves are turning: autumn in all its glory has come. We’ve just finished up a weekend of family, food, friends and counting our blessings; now it’s time to hang the outdoor decorations and plunge into the whole week of Cyber Monday deals! We hope that you’re finding all the things on your lists.

The passing of Thanksgiving means it’s not only holiday-shopping time, it’s also time for the return of Books for Schools! So many of you have asked when it would start up again, and we’re happy to say that the day is here: Monday, November 28th 2016! What better season to share our love of reading with children across the country who may never otherwise have a book to call their own? Most of us can’t imagine what a childhood without books would have been like. Please take a few minutes to help these children learn the joy of reading. This year we have schools from Mississippi to Illinois, and Minnesota to Tennessee. You can read more about each school on the Books for Schools page where you can also donate Book Credits or PBS Money.

In all the holiday hubbub, we do hope that you find some time to turn some leaves yourself…BOOK leaves! No matter how busy things get, give yourself a time out whenever you can and find a cozy spot, conjure up a cup of tea or hot cocoa (don’t neglect the marshmallows!), and open up a good book. You deserve it!

Richard and
The PaperBackSwap Team

PS. If you know of a school that serves needy children and you would like to suggest it as a Books for Schools participant for next year, please submit the information here.

 

 

Books for Schools 2014

Saturday, December 6th, 2014

Dear Members,BFS 2014 click apple

So many of you have asked when our school donation program will launch again – we’re happy to announce that Books for Schools 2014 is now live!

Each year PaperBackSwap, through our generous members, donates brand-new books to selected deserving elementary schools across the country.

The goal of the program is to provide children with books that they can read for pleasure. Most of us in the club learned the love of reading at an early age, and this is a great opportunity to share that joy. In the past three years PaperBackSwap and our members have donated over 70,000 new books!

Last year, we reached our goal of 25,000 books sent to 24 deserving elementary schools. Check the details of last year’s recipient schools to see wonderful photos of the children receiving the books (here is an example from last year), and see their thank-you cards. If you know of an elementary school in need, suggest it here and we will consider it for our next Books for School donation drive.

Your donation of credits and/or PaperBackSwap Money (which is used to defray some of the shipping costs) or both help us to put books in the hands of children. Together PaperBackSwap and our wonderful members do make a difference!

Most of the participating schools this year are large, with enrollments of between 400 and 700. The school roster includes a special-ed school in AL, and a school in WV that does not actually have its own library – the local library they visit weekly has stepped up to collect and distribute books to the students (bravo to them for helping with this)!

And those of you who read the blog post about our visit to the Belize Children’s Home might want to look in on the Adopt-a-School drive for the abused and abandoned children who are being lovingly cared for there.

Thanks in advance for your help – the kids really appreciate the books!

Richard and
The PaperBackSwap Team

 

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A Special Invite to Librarians attending Bouchercon

Friday, October 17th, 2014

MWA_tag_4CBy Jeri Westerson,
Author & President, Southern California Chapter of Mystery Writers of America

 

Conventions can be wonderful places. You learn things, you meet up with like-minded individuals from all over the country, you get a handle on doing things better once you get back home, and you get to explore different cities, different adventures.

Bouchercon is one of those conventions. It’s a mystery fan convention. The biggest in this country. Mystery and thriller writers from the major names to the modest attend and entertain on panels and other venues. As a medieval mystery writer myself, I’ve been going to Bouchercon since before I got that first contract, so that would be since 2006. I’ve been to Madison, WI; Anchorage, AK; Baltimore, MD; Indianapolis, IN; Cleveland, OH; St. Louis, MO…and on and on. This time it’s in my own neck of the woods in Long Beach, CA. This year, I also have the privilege of being the president of the Southern California chapter of Mystery Writers of America. MWA is the premier mystery writer and reader professional organization and the SoCal chapter is one of the biggest (including a bunch of screenwriters and would-be screenwriters, as you can imagine being centered in Southern California). So while Bouchercon is going on, we decided to sponsor an event in one of the overflow hotels strictly for librarians attending B’con.

Because we love librarians and all the things libraries do for literacy, for author advocacy, and for giving us opportunities to meet our public through library events, we wanted to give back. A Librarian Tea seemed like a good choice. Simply, if you are registered for Bouchercon (and if not why not?) you are invited to our FREE high tea at the nearby Westin on Saturday, Nov 15 at 2 pm. Besides tea and scrumptious goodies to consume, you will also get to hear the trials and tribulations of a panel of audiobook narrators. Joining us is Kirby Heyborne who has narrated many audiobooks and is well known to librarians from his several appearances at ALA and his Ovation Award-winning narrations. His credits include GONE GIRL. Julie Whelan is also a prolific narrator and was the co-narrator of GONE GIRL. Scott Brick is one of the most beloved of audiobook narrators, with literally hundreds of audiobooks to his credit. He is the go-to narrator for many top authors, including Gregg Hurwitz, Brad Meltzer and many others. Cassandra Campbell has narrator hundreds of audiobooks. Richard Brewer has narrated a number of audiobooks, and is about to undertake UNDER TOWER PEAK by Bart Paul, which the Wall Street Journal’s Tom Nolan named one of 2013’s top 10 mystery novels. Penguin Random House has also generously donated audiobooks for you to take home with you and SoCalMWA is giving away nifty bookbags. All this and tea too!

There will also be authors to schmooze with at each of the tables. I hope you will partake of what we have on offer. It’s our organization’s mission to spread the word about mystery writing, about our authors, and about educational opportunities. If you are a librarian and are interested in attending our tea, please email us at contact@socalmwa.com.

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Snowflakes for Sandy Hook Elementary School

Thursday, December 27th, 2012

Our hearts go out to the students, teachers, administration and community of Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT

and it is to them that we dedicate this year’s Books for Schools campaign.

 

 

We would like to send 5,000 books to Sandy Hook Elementary, in a small effort to help.Sandy Hook Elementary School is the final school we are collecting for this year.

 

In addition, The Connecticut PTSA is gathering snowflakes to decorate Sandy Hook Elementary when their students return to school.

If our members would like to make snowflakes for Sandy Hook Elementary School and send them to us, we will forward them on to the PTSA. Please send them to our address:

 

PaperBackSwap
3651 Peachtree Parkway Suite E-390
Suwanee, GA 30024

Attn: Snowflakes & Books for Sandy Hook

 

 

 

 

 

 

Books for Schools 2012

Thursday, December 20th, 2012

 

 

Dear Members,

We are very pleased to announce Books for Schools 2012, where your unused book credits can make all the difference in a child’s life! 

In the last few years, thanks to the generosity of our members, we have been able to donate upwards of 100,000 books to students in need. This year we hope to send over 20,000 books!

We have received many inquiries from members, asking when we will be running this donation drive again.  As always, we are so impressed with, and touched by, our members’ generosity.  This club is filled with avid readers many of whom fell in love with books as children, and the desire to pass along that tremendous gift to more children is so strong here.  Because of your enthusiasm in past years, we have been able to help far more schools than we had ever expected.

All of the selected schools have a high percentage of students receiving a free or reduced-fee lunch.  These kids are eager for books, but their school libraries’ funds are lacking, and many of the students have never owned a book.  Making it possible for them to be able to borrow books from the classroom, or to have books of their own to read at home, is a wonderful way to give the gift of reading to a child this holiday season.

For each credit you donate, PaperBackSwap will provide a brand new book to one of these schools!  The books will be used in the classrooms, and/or given to the students to keep.  Once a school has reached its goal of donated credits and PBS Money (which will defray the cost of sortin, shipping and handling), the listing will move to the Completed tab, and a new school will become active and begin accepting donations.  When the campaign is complete, PaperBackSwap will purchase and send all of the books to the schools, at no cost to them. Read more about how the program works.

 

Thanks for joining us in making a real difference in the education of these children!

 

 Richard Pickering and The PaperBackSwap Team

 

 

 

 

Our hearts go out to the students, teachers, administration and community of Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT

and it is to them that we dedicate this year’s Books for Schools campaign.


New Feature – Member Appreciation Books!

Tuesday, December 11th, 2012

It’s that wonderful time of the year, when families are gathering and memories are being made.  We love this season! We wanted to give our members a present – something totally new, a fun feature to celebrate the holiday – one that includes the surprise factor of gifting, with a “chosen just for you” flair.

And so…we introduce Member Appreciation Books (MABs)!  This is the perfect combination of the PBS Market (where we offer NEW books at steep discount) and our book swapping club (where you swap used books for Book Credits) – now you can get NEW books for 1 Book Credit + the cost of shipping!

MABs are unpredictable – you may be offered a MAB at any time; the system will do this randomly (as long as you have chosen favorite genres in your Account Settings or from your homepage). So you may not be offered a MAB for weeks, or you may be offered MABs every day for a while.  MAB offers will appear in the Message of the Day box at the top of your Homepage (click Home when logged in to see if you have a MAB).  If you do, you can order that book for 1 Book Credit + shipping! You can sometimes order more than one MAB at a time (click the “More Free Books” link on the MAB offer on your homepage to see the list of MABs currently available to you), or you may be allowed only one that day. To keep things fair, you can’t order multiple copies of any specific MAB.  MABs can be fleetingthey can expire quickly (usually because of supplier limitations) so if you see a MAB you want, put it into your Cart.  Don’t wait too long to check out though, because if the MAB expires for that book, the 1 credit + shipping price will no longer apply. MABs are specific – they are chosen for you based on your favorite genres (so you do need to select these to participate in the MAB program).  You can choose your favorite genres in two places: (1) on your Homepage and (2) in your Account Settings .

How much does a MAB cost?  For each MAB, you pay 1 Book Credit + shipping. The shipping cost is the same as always for Market books – $3.45 for the first book in a shipment, and $0.99 for each additional book in the shipment.  In our Market, shipments can come from two different sources: Overstock or Super Seller.  So, if you order two MABs and both are Super Sellers, you will get them for 2 Book Credits + $3.45 shipping for the first book and $0.99 shipping for the second.  If you order two MABs and one is from Overstock and the other is a Super Seller, you will be charged 2 Book Credits + $3.45 x 2 (shipping for each “first” book in the two different shipments). Yes, you can order regular Market books (non MABs) at the same time and have them shipped with the MABs!

The MAB program launches December 11, 2012.  You can read more about MABs in the Help Center.

Don’t forget to go to your Homepage to check it out, and see what MABs may be waiting there for you!

Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah to all,

Richard and
The PaperBackSwap Team