Who is helping give out half a million free books across America on April 23, 2013?
We Are! – Gilmer Public Library
On April 23, 2013, 25,000 volunteers from Berkeley to Boston and Sitka to Sarasota will give away half a million free books in more than 6,000 towns and cities across the country.
World Book Night U.S. is an ambitious campaign to give thousands of free, specially printed paperbacks to light or nonreaders across America on one day. Volunteer book lovers help promote reading by going out into their communities and sharing free copies of books they love. The mission of World Book Night is to seek out those without the means or access to printed books.
Some of the volunteers in our community will be picking up their books at Gilmer Public Library and sharing them locally.
We at Gilmer Public Library are proud to be a partner in World Book Night U.S. this year.
Bestselling authors Ann Patchett and James Patterson are this year’s honorary chair-people. James Patterson said: “In my experience, when people like what they are doing, they do more of it. This is the genius of World Book Night — it gets people reading by connecting them with amazing, enjoyable books. I’m honored to be a part of it.”
“I’m very proud to be a part of World Book Night,” Ann Patchett added. “As both a writer and a bookseller, I’m all in favor of getting books into the hands of people who might not otherwise have access to them.”
The books were chosen by an independent panel of booksellers and librarians through several rounds of voting. The printing of the free books was possible due to generosity of the authors, publishers, and book manufacturing companies.
Although it is too late to be a giver this year, those interested in participating in the future can sign up for the WBN mailing list for news and updates on World Book Night 2014. The free WBN editions are not available in [bookstore/library name] at any time, except for the WBN volunteers to take into the community, but we will be displaying the books in their regular editions all spring.
The 30 World Book Night U.S. titles for 2013, alphabetical by author, are:
• The Handmaid’s Tale , Margaret Atwood (Anchor Books/Random House)
• City of Thieves , David Benioff (Plume/Penguin Group (USA))
• Fahrenheit 451 , Ray Bradbury (Simon & Schuster Paperbacks)
• My Antonia , Willa Cather (Dover)
• Girl with a Pearl Earring , Tracy Chevalier (Plume/Penguin Group (USA))
• The House on Mango Street , Sandra Cisneros (Vintage/Random House)
• La casa en Mango Street , Sandra Cisneros; translated by Elena
• Poniatowska (Vintage Español/Random House)
• The Alchemist , Paulo Coelho (HarperOne/HarperCollins)
• El Alquimista , Paulo Coelho (Rayo/HarperCollins)
• The Language of Flowers , Vanessa Diffenbaugh (Ballantine Books/Random House)
• The Worst Hard Time , Timothy Egan (Mariner Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
• Bossypants , Tina Fey (Reagan Arthur/Back Bay Books)
• Good Omens , Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett (William Morrow Paperbacks/HarperCollins)
• Still Alice , Lisa Genova (Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster)
• Looking for Alaska , John Green (Speak/Penguin Group (USA))
• Playing for Pizza , John Grisham (Bantam/Random House)
• Mudbound , Hillary Jordan (Algonquin Books/Workman Publishing)
• The Phantom Tollbooth , Norton Juster; illus. by Jules Feiffer (Yearling/Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers)
• Moneyball , Michael Lewis (W. W. Norton)
• The Tender Bar , J. R. Moehringer (Hyperion)
• Devil in a Blue Dress , Walter Mosley (Simon & Schuster)
• Middle School , The Worst Years of My Life, James Patterson and Chris Tebbetts (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
• Population: 485 , Michael Perry (HarperPerennial/HarperCollins)
• The Lightning Thief , Rick Riordan (Disney-Hyperion)
• Montana Sky , Nora Roberts (Berkley/Penguin Group (USA))
• Look Again , Lisa Scottoline (St. Martin’s)
• Me Talk Pretty One Day , David Sedaris (Back Bay Books/Little Brown)
• The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency , Alexander McCall Smith (Anchor Books/Random House)
• Glaciers , Alexis M. Smith (Tin House Books)
• A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Mark Twain (Dover)
• Salvage the Bones , Jesmyn Ward (Bloomsbury)
• Favorite American Poems (Large Print edition) various authors (Dover)
World Book Night will take place on April 23, 2013. World Book Night in the U.S. is a non-profit organization and has 501(c)3 nonprofit status. World Book Night U.S. is supported by publishers, Barnes & Noble, the American Booksellers Association, the American Library Association, Ingram Content Group, FedEx, printers, and paper companies; a full list of sponsors is at our website.
For more information about World Book Night, please go to www.WorldBookNight.org or visit us on Facebook and Twitter.