New Books for Hurricane Harvey Schools & Libraries: Details for schools/libraries and authors/publishers

Hundreds of Texas classrooms and libraries lost books in Hurricane Harvey and related flooding, and some have started reaching out to ask for help to make sure kids have books when they return to school. Please note that the best way to help is by donating money, either to individual libraries or to the Texas Library Association Disaster Relief fund, which will be assisting for many weeks to come. Many authors, illustrators, & publishing professionals have also asked about donating new books to some of those schools & libraries. This New Books for Hurricane Harvey Schools & Libraries project aims to connect schools in need with those who have new books to donate.

If you are a teacher, librarian, or principal whose school or library lost books, you can fill out this form to request new book donations. 

If you are an author, illustrator, or publishing professional and you’d like to donate a box of new books, here’s information on how to do that.

(Photo above is by Danelle Anderson via fb: Kingwood Library losses) 

I’ve been collecting requests from teachers, librarians, and principals and now have a list of dozens of Texas schools that were impacted by Hurricane Harvey and are ready (or almost ready) to receive new book donations. They have all specifically requested this sort of donation. If you are an author, illustrator, or publishing professional who would like to help, please email me (kate messner books at gmail) or DM me on Facebook or Twitter (@katemessner), to request access to the spreadsheet. This link may NOT be shared publicly because it includes many educators’ personal contact information. Please do not post it anywhere.

The spreadsheet has a list of teachers, schools, and needs, along with addresses for sending new books and dates when books can be accepted. I’d like to keep track of what’s been sent to whom so we can make sure everyone gets books. To “adopt” a classroom or library in need, you’ll go to column J on the spreadsheet in the row for the school/library you’d like to adopt. Enter your name, where you’re from if you work at a publisher, and what you are sending. Examples of this: “Kate Messner – 15 of my books” or “Paige Turner from Bloomsbury – 1 case of mixed titles.”

Please note that this effort is for new book donations. While some impacted classrooms might welcome gently used book donations, people who have experienced this sort of catastrophic flooding in the past say that can lead to a flood of unusable materials which then create another job for people who are already overwhelmed. If you were thinking of organizing a used book drive, one idea is to have a used book sale at your school instead and donate the proceeds to the Texas Library Association Disaster Relief Effort. https://squareup.com/store/txla