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DC Kids Benefit from Major Book Donation

August 25, 2004 - 6:40pm — Rochelle

The Curmudgeony Librarian writes "Score one for literacy this week, as kids in the greater Washington DC area received a donation of 100,000 books. The books were donated by Verizon, Disney Publishing Worldwide, and First Book--a national nonprofit organization that provides children from low-income families with the chance to read and own their first new books. The books were distributed to groups from Washington, Maryland, and Virginia."

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August 27, 2004 - 1:36pm — Sheilah

What kinds of books? What are the titles?

Nowhere do I see a discussion about what kinds of books these kids are being given. Are the books being vetted by anyone? Teachers? Librarians? The wrong books could discourage kids from making the effort to read just as surely as the lack of books do.

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August 27, 2004 - 5:01pm — jbz

Re:What kinds of books? What are the titles?

I agree, so I tried to look further. The only publisher mentioned is Disney, so I went to the Disney Books website: http://disney.go.com/disneybooks/index.html and found some very didactic, sappy productions. I found nothing I'd want my children or those I serve to read, especially the bowdlerized versions of Winnie the Pooh.
Also the FirstBook sites talks about benefits to publishers, allowing them to donate their unsold books. Perhaps those books were unsold for a good reason ...

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