Featured Image: Photo of all books donated, including GHOST by Jason Reynolds, as well as front list titles by Lehigh Valley authors including Paul Acampora Confusion is Nothing New (2018, Scholastic), David Lubar Check out the Library Weenies (2018, Starscape), and Jordan Sonnenblick The Secret Sheriff of Sixth Grade (2017, Scholastic)
EMMAUS, PA: Over $1,200 of books to be donated to five Allentown School District middle schools.
On Small Business Saturday (Nov. 24, 2018), which coincides with Indies First for bookstores, Let’s Play Books Bookstore participated in the “Indie Bookstores Give Back on Small Business Saturday” campaign (#IndiesGiveBack), donating 25 special-edition copies of bestselling author Jason Reynolds’ Ghost to middle schools in the Allentown School District. However, in order to give even more books to the schools, the bookstore held a “You Pay Half, We Pay Half” promotion in which customers purchased books at half price for the Allentown School District. Community members purchased 25 books to donate, plus a generous matching donor, Martha Olsen, gave an additional 50 books.
“We currently work with five school districts, and there are underserved children in all. However, I feel that the benefit of these books will go the farthest in the Allentown School District. We are giving five copies each of Jason Reynolds’ Ghost to five schools. The book business is not a lucrative one, and we appreciate this opportunity to give books to children that otherwise may not have them,” said Kirsten Hess, owner of Let’s Play Books Bookstore. “In addition, through our You Pay Half, We Pay Half Book Drive on Indies First/Small Business Saturday, customers have helped us donate an additional 75 books. We couldn’t be happier!”
The schools receiving the books are Harrison Morton Middle School, Trexler Middle School, Francis D. Raub Middle School, South Mountain Middle School and Arts Academy Charter Middle School. Each school will receive 5 or more copies of GHOST, by Jason Reynolds, a National Book Award Finalist for Young People’s Literature, plus other titles given by the community.
Indie Bookstores Give Back on Small Business Saturday – The American Booksellers Association and American Express worked together with Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing this holiday season to make available 20,000 copies of Ghost, Reynolds’s first book in his New York Times bestselling Track series. Earlier this year, bookstores signed up to give copies of the book away to a program or school for underserved or low-income children at an event on or around Indies First on Small Business Saturday, November 24.
Indies First — a collaboration among publishers, retailers, and authors — is an annual campaign launched by the American Booksellers Association in 2013 to celebrate independent bookstores. Hundreds of indies across the country held events on November 24, Small Business Saturday, a day dedicated to supporting the local businesses that help create jobs, boost the local economy, and preserve neighborhoods.
For more information about Let’s Play Books Bookstore, visit www.letsplaybooks.com
About the American Booksellers Association (www.BookWeb.org)
Founded in 1900, the American Booksellers Association is a national not-for-profit trade organization that works to help independently owned bookstores grow and succeed. The association actively supports and defends free speech and the First Amendment rights of all Americans. A volunteer board of eleven booksellers governs the association. ABA is headquartered in White Plains, New York.
Information and image provided to TVL by:
Kirsten Hess
Let’s Play Books Bookstore
244 Main St.
Emmaus, PA 18049
610-928-8600