BEA Show Daily: Children's Charity Kicks Off Program

Day 2

by Jason Britton -- Publishers Weekly, 5/4/2002

At a press conference held at the show yesterday, First Book unveiled a new initiative designed to put books in the hands of low-income children across the U.S.

The First Book National Book Bank will allow various nonprofit organizations serving children to register and choose books that best suit their needs. An Internet database lists titles donated to the campaign by publishers; organizations place their order and then can either pick up the books from a warehouse or pay 25 cents per book to have them shipped to their location. Interested charities can visit www.nationalbookbank.org for more information and to register.

The program is being sponsored by First Book, Verizon and children's publishers Random House, Simon & Schuster, Scholastic, HarperCollins and Disney Publishing Worldwide. Actor Joan Allen will be the campaign's spokesperson. The U.S. Coast Guard and members of the National School Supply and Equipment Association are contributing warehouse space to house the donated books in a number of cites around the country.

First Book, a nonprofit organization, was founded in 1992 and has so far donated more than 16 million books.