Reading Partners volunteer collects +100 books in Amazon wish list book drive

In early December, three observations came together to spark an idea.

1. Being far too old to write letters to Santa, my siblings created Amazon wish lists to make sure family members gave appropriate presents.
2. I posted a cute story about a Reading Partners session on Facebook and several friends commented that they wished they had Reading Partners in their area.
3. I noticed it was getting to be slim pickings in the Take Reading Home library, the selection of books available to students to help build their home libraries.

I started to wonder if my friends who couldn’t volunteer with Reading Partners would be willing to donate books as an alternative, but I needed a way to make it easy. That’s when it hit me: Amazon wish list! So I created a wish list specifically for Reading Partners with books that students enjoy. Then I posted the wish list link to my social media accounts and hoped for the best.

Two days later, three packages of books arrived at my house. I’m not gonna lie, I totally cried. And the packages kept coming! One of my friends even shared the link on her own Facebook page, and her friends sent me books too. Complete strangers sent me books to give to kids, which I find simply amazing. 

When I started this adventure, I figured I’d get about twenty books. And I would have been thrilled with that. Instead I’m currently up to…are you ready for it?…a grand total of 138 books! Yes, 138 books that kids who struggle with reading can take home and call their very own. Books that will help them become better readers and improve their lives in so many ways. 

I got so many donations I was able to create a Thank You message using the books. And here’s a picture of one of my students helping me unload books in our reading center.

Since this experiment was such a success, I wanted to share the process with other reading partners, so you can easily facilitate book donations for your school.

Click here for directions on creating your own Amazon wish list.