Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Making a Difference, One Book at a Time - the Guys Lit Wire & Operation Teen Book Drop Event for Navajo & Apache Teens


ETA: AS OF SATURDAY, APRIL 24TH, WE ARE A SELLOUT! THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED US GET 772 BOOKS TO OJO ENCINO DAY SCHOOL AND ALCHESAY HIGH

After the impressive success of last year's Book Fair for Boys that saw over 600 books sent to the LA County Detention Center, GLW has teamed up with the Readergirlz, YALSA and If I Can Read, I Can Do Anything, (A national reading club for Native American children) for another book fair event to get books to students enrolled at Ojo Encino Day School and Alchesay High School. You can read more at the Readergirlz and the ALA about the massive effort to get books from publishers to multiple reservation school libraries across the country, but for GLW it is all about two wishlists for these two schools and a plan to build on our success from last year by making a difference for a lot of teens who could use our help.

There are a lot of kids that need books in America - heck there are kids all over the world who need books. And while the news of the latest e-reader or publisher shakeups or outrageous advance to a political or celebrity writer makes readers everywhere wonder if books still matter, it only takes a few minutes worth of research about life for the average Native American teen on the reservation to realize that they are important, perhaps more now than ever. Books are power - we are all book lovers and we know that; most of us learned it when we were kids. Books showed us worlds like our own, as well as places we could not imagine. They taught us how to cope, gave us big ideas to ponder and dared us to dream great futures.

If you love books then you know what they can do and you can understand how significant they can be to these particular kids.

Ojo Encino Day School is located twenty-five miles west of Cuba, New Mexico on the Navajo Nation. It is a BIA school serving students from kindergarten through eighth grade. We are directing our efforts towards the older kids in the middle school age range, or about eighty of the total students. You can read more about Ojo Encino and their recently built (and LONG overdue) new school (no more portables!) here. The Ojo kids are way into nonfiction, (it's what the boys find most appealing) and wanted books on military history, animals and drawing. The girls wanted fantasy and mystery. The wishlist is especially important to the students of Ojo Encino for, as their librarian Mary Nickless explained to the ALA recently, "“In their lives, they really don’t have new books.”

Here at GLW we hate hearing something like that, and we're sure all of you hate it too.

Alchesay High School is located in Whiteriver, Arizona in the heart of the White Mountain Apache Reservation - home of the legendary Fort Apache. (Their school district has a web presence so you can learn more about the school here.) There are currently 750 students enrolled at Alchesay and they are miles from the nearest bookstore; it's about four hours to the closest city. Reading Specialist Marilyn Hill made it quite clear to me how important books would be for the students there and how excited they were at the project. The Alchesay kids had ideas about books they wanted (Jane Eyre, Alice in Wonderland, a graphic novelization of Hamlet, everything - and I mean EVERYTHING - by Sherman Alexie, etc.) and the books they receive will be used not only in the library but in classroom discussions and as academic achievement awards. They are very excited and plan to check their wishlist constantly to see what is coming their way.

Just as we did for last year's book fair, we have set the wishlists up at Powells.com. We are big fans of Powells Books here at GLW - we love that it's a bricks and mortar store that contributes to the Portland literary scene in a huge way and we love that it covers such a wide variety of titles. Powells sells new and used and from personal experience I know how fine their used copies are. Feel free to choose a used book if you need to save few dollars - just make sure it is a "standard" used copy as "student owned" can be marked up (which is why they are so dirt cheap).

There is a list for each school, and you can easily select which to shop from (or shop from both!). A lot of these titles will likely be unfamiliar - at Ojo Encino Mary pointed me in the direction of a small publisher out of Flagstaff who specializes in English/Navajo titles so there are several bilingual titles from there on that list, for example. Rest assured that a lot of time has gone in crafting these lists - many different resource lists were studied, the schools weighed in with what they need and Dr. Lorienne Roy from If I Can Read, I Can Do Anything read over the lists to make sure they were pitch perfect. It's not all surprises however - E. Lockhart is here, and Mike Lupica and James Howe and yes, the Ojo Encino girls wanted the Twilight books. There is a lot of nonfiction per their request, and a lot of graphic novels. Mary Nickless asked for books about eagles and horses and basketball, Marilyn Hill was looking for Jimmy Baca, the Titanic and several poetry collections. I will be adding books as the lists are shopped - especially sequels so be sure to check back if your curious to see what else the kids are clamoring for.

As for accessing the lists, here is the drill. Powells is a bit tighter than Amazon so there are a couple of extra steps. First, hit the Powells site and on the upper right click on "wish list". From there you will be prompted for the email address of the list owner. Type in "guyslitwire@gmail.com". You will then be given the choice to select either Ojo Encino or Alchesay. Once you are looking at the lists (which contain hundreds of titles) you can make your selection of a new, used, or sale copy. After your done and ready to make your purchase you will be asked to confirm that you are buying books for a certain wishlist. Checking those boxes will keep the lists up to date and prevent books from appearing as unsold even after they were purchased. Now all you have to do is enter the mailing addresses, and here they are:

Mary Nickless
Ojo Encino Day School Librarian
HCR 79 Box 7
Cuba, NM 87013
(505) 731-2333

Marilyn Hill
Alchesay High School
200 Falcon Way
Whiteriver, AZ 85941
928-338-4848

PLEASE BE AWARE: If you try to buy a book for Alchesay and you get a message from Powells stating the book has already been purchased for Ojo Encino, THAT IS OKAY. Powells is having some difficulty handling identical books purchased from both lists. It's a system glitch that I'm sure will be rectified in the future. Just go ahead and buy the book and then please send us an email (guyslitwireATgmailDOTcom)or comment here at the site letting us know what you bought. I can manually tag the book as "Received" on the list. I'm so sorry this has been a problem for some of you and appreciate your patience as the book fair winds down.

This book fair will run for two weeks and we invite everyone who buys a book to please comment on our site or send us an email and let us know your first name, where you are from and what you bought so we can run a list of how the Fair is going. I will be running an updated post daily at the top of our site with the information we gather from contributors so we can all see what books are being bought and where everyone is from. We hope this will be a huge success and remind a lot of kids who most of us will never know that we care about them and we hope for them and we wish the very best for them. We are sending them books after all, because that is what we all know has meant so much to so many of us.

Hit the wishlist, buy a book and please, let us know what you think of the Book Fair for Native American teens.

[Top post pic taken from American Youth; all books pictured here can be found on the wishlists. My thoughts on the psychology behind creating these lists can be found here.]

127 comments :

Anonymous said...

Slam Dunk and Hive Detectives for the New Mexico school.

Jenn H.

Unknown said...

Native Athletes in Action

by Vincent Schilling

Trickster: Native American Tales: A Graphic Collection

by Matt Dembicki

Immigrants in Our Own Land and Selected Early Poems

by Jimmy Santiago Baca

For
Marilyn Hill
Alchesay High School
200 Falcon Way
Whiteriver AZ 85941

Caroline

Vasilly said...

Ten Little Indians by Sherman Alexie and Alice in Wonderland

I'm from Long Beach, CA

Robin L said...

Wow, I think this is SUCH an amazing idea and I am very excited to have a chance to participate in this.

For the New Mexico school: Frog Scientist, 8th Grade SuperHero, and Rain is Not My Indian Name.

For the Arizona school, Stormship Troopers, Codetalkers, and Story of a Girl.

Anonymous said...

Hunger Games and The Green Glass Sea for Ojo Encino; One Hundred Demons, The President's Daughter, and Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes for Alchesay High School.

Now I am so broke but srsly it was hard to stop. Thanks for putting this together!

admin note: the wish-list check box for One Hundred Demons came up as "Ojo Encino" even though I was shopping for (and sent it to) Alchesay.

Colleen said...

Thanks guys! All of you rock!

Grrlpup - "One Hundred Demons" is on both lists and it must have defaulted to the Ojo one. I'll make sure it is still listed there as you sent the copy to Alchesay. Thank you!!!

Sara Ryan said...

Alchesay (today!) (and yeah I couldn't resist getting a copy of my own book when I saw it was on the list. :))

Firebirds Rising: An Anthology of Original Science Fiction and Fantasy
Empress of the World
I Wouldn't Start from Here: The 21st Century and Where It All Went Wrong
Cooked: My Journey from the Streets to the Stove
Rising Voices: Writings of Young Native Americans
One Hundred Demons
Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga and Graphic Novels

Colleen said...

Thanks Sara - and you knew I would put "Empress" on there, didn't you? It remains one of my all time favs and I'm sure will be much loved by some kids in AZ as well.

Jodie said...

Gah I have totally just sent the Ojo picks to Alchesay! Gah. I paid by Paypal so I don't think there's any way to remedy it...

On their way are:

Rising Voices
Native Men of Courage
The Draw 50 Way
Who will Tell My Brother
Parrotfish
Heart of a Chief
Counting Coup

As paying by Paypal no option to say these were form a wishlist.

What's the best thing to do here - should I just reorder those books and send to Ojo Encino? I was planning to order books for both schools anyway.

Jennifer said...

this is such a great idea... I recommend that people *not* try to pay with paypal, as it keeps defaulting to your own address and is seemingly impossible to switch... after four tries (having to go all the way back through the order!) I gave up and used a credit card.

Becker said...

Great work with the lists, Colleen!
I got, for Ojo Encino:
Dairy Queen
Summer's Trade

and for Alchesay:
The Necessary Hunger
Y: The Last Man vol. 1
Runaways vol. 1

Jan von Harz said...

I just sent one of my favorite reds this year by Alexie along with 13 other titles that I love. This is a wonderful opportunity for bloggers to share their love of reading. Thank you for making this possible.

Jodie said...

Gah I have sent the wrong books to the wrong school. I sent New Mexico's books to Arizona - what is the best thing to do about this (rebuy for New Mexico? I was planning on buying for both schools anyway). I've sent Powells an email to see if I can change the delivery address...

The books going are:

Rising Voices
Native Men of Courage
The Draw 50 ways
Who will Tell My Brother
Parrotfish
Heart of a Chief
Countingcoup

No options to say they're from a wishlist with Paypal (I think that's the same as last year).

Sara said...

Sending you an email, but wanted to shout out my joy that you are doing this again. Awesome doesn't begin to cover it.

Jan von Harz said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sara Z. said...

Yes!

Sweethearts, Kaufman's Bird Guide, Stephen King's On Writing for AZ school.

Samurai Shortstop, Skellig, Shadow Brothers, Ball Don't Lie, Kaufman's Bird Guide for NM

Kimberly said...

Wrinkle in Time, Wind in the Door, and Father's Boots, for Ojo Encino. I'm from Northern CA. (And I posted this to Facebook.)

Sarah Rettger said...

For Alchesay:
Dairy Queen
Jane Eyre (just for you, Colleen!)
Specials

For Ojo Encino
Steinbeck's Ghost
The Wednesday Wars

Anonymous said...

Alice in Wonderland and Looking for Alaska for Alchesay.

The Graveyard Book, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Zombie Haiku for Ojo Encino.

Colleen said...

Jodie:

the best thing to do is to try and stop it from your end - and Powells will likely do that as there is generally a couple of days lag time from order to ship.

Everyone else - THANKS SO MUCH!

Anonymous said...

I'm with Jodie: something went awry. But it wasn't my fault. (It hardly ever is, you know. Ha!)

Anyhow, I selected a book from the Alchesay list, and when I checked out I was told that one was needed at Ojo Encino. So I sent it there. In a separate transaction, I went back to the Alchesay list to select a new book, and that book I'd just sent WAS on their list. Hmmm.

So I've sent each school a copy of NNATIONAL AUDUBON'S FIELD GUIDE TO NORTH AMERICAN INSECTS AND SPIDERS. Here's hoping there are students into creepy crawlies at both schools!

Rock on, GuysLitWire Heroes!

Loree Burns
www.loreeburns.com

Colleen said...

Hey Loree - a lot of the books are on both lists and I think it will assume you are buying for the last list you looked at, even if you mean to buy it for the other list. In your case the field guide is on both and that's probably what happened.

So no worries! And did you see that your books have sold on both lists? How cool!

Kathy Martin said...

For Alchesay:

Indian Killer Indian Killer
Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale
Valiant: A Modern Tale of Faerie

Arrives on or near: Wednesday, April 21, 2010)

Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy

Do you think they would mind if I surprised them with a box of YA books from my massive TBR stack?

Kathy Martin said...

For Ojo Encino:

Order #8331391 (Processing time: 1 to 3 days. Arrives on or near: Thursday, April 22, 2010)

M Is for Magic: Stories
The Good Fight: How World War II Was Won
Draw Fifty Horses (Draw 50)
The Man Who Ran Faster Than Everyone: The Story of Tom Longboat

Arrives on or near: Thursday, April 22, 2010)

Ultimate Spider-Man #01: Power and Responsibility

Do you think they would mind if I sent them some books from my massive TBR pile?

Little Willow said...

Thank you to each and every person who is supporting Operation TBD and checking items off of the wishlists! :)

Colleen said...

Kathy - just sent you an email re: the TBR book pile!

Jodie said...

Ok they were shipping in two batches and the big batch (everything but Parrotfish I hope, because that was dispatched really quickly) has had it's address changed so it should be headed to New Mexico. Cross fingers.

Colleen said...

Jodie - you get the medal for going the extra mile! Thanks so much for clearing this up. And no worries about Parrotfish - it was on both lists anyway and is awesome book.

Anonymous said...

For Ojo Encino: (And evidence that even when buying for other people, I buy a lot of books)

- The Thief
- The Horsecatcher
- The Crafty Diva's DIY Stylebook
- Whatcha Mean, What's a Zine
- The Hollow Kingdom
- Dinomummy
- Digging for Bird-Dinosaurs
- T-Minus: the Race to the Moon
- Moccasin Thunder
- Who Wants to be a Prairie Dog?
- Animals Charles Darwin Saw

-- Rebecca from New Orleans

Jodie said...

Ok so off to Arizona go

Tangerine
Firebirds
Darkest Powers (1)
Funny How Things Change
What Have you Lost
The Toughest Indian in the World

and Parrotfish is winging its way there too.

Great thing you're doing :)

Colleen said...

Thanks Rebecca! Got all yours and thank you Jodie for taking care of Alchesay too!

Anonymous said...

This is awesome. Having spent three weeks living at a BIA boarding school in college, I am thrilled that you are reacing out in this way.

Anonymous said...

I think I forgot to mark something at Powells site to show I purchased for school.

For Ojo: Hoot
For for Alchesay: Habibi
Sorry about that.

Lee said...

Cool initiative--hard to read your site w/ the black background though! :-) I sent Extreme Scientists and a Sci Fi anthology to Ojo.

Lee

Anonymous said...

For Ojo:Weetzie Bat & Legend of Speed: The Burt Munro Story

For Alchesay: War Dances

I hope you get a huge response!

Anonymous said...

Chameleon for Ojo Encino and Fallen Angels for Alchesay. Hooray for this project!

Colleen said...

Thanks guys - you are all buying such great books. You are really and truly an awesome bunch of people!

heaether said...

My Secret: A Postsecret Book
The Things They Carried
A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present (P.S.)
Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga and Graphic Novels
American Born Chinese
Trickster: Native American Tales: A Graphic Collection
all for high school

Nephele Tempest said...

Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury and American Gods by Neil Gaiman on their way to Arizona; Beginning Chess by Bruce Pandolfini and Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood by Tony Lee en route to New Mexico.

Also, have passed the word along regarding the book fair. So glad you're all doing this again this year.

Katherine Langrish said...

Diving to A Deep Sea Volcano, and Charles Darwin for the New Mexico school.

Great idea.

Kath Langrish

Julie said...

I don't know if you can get it fixed, but when I purchased "So Punk Rock" for the AZ school, it didn't remove it from the wish list because it said it was already purchased for the NM school. Maybe Powell's could manually fix that?

Colleen said...

Thanks guys - and no worries, Julie. I can manually remove it. The lists get hung up sometimes when a book is present on both lists. But it's squared away now!

Unknown said...

13 Reasons Why for NM...

Unknown said...

The Perks of Being a Wildflower for Alchesay High School

Teens Cook: How to Cook What You Want to Eat for Ojo Encino Day School

Susan A

Margot said...

This is a lovely idea. I got "Firewatch" 'cause I love Connie Willis.

Anonymous said...

Athena: Grey-Eyed Goddess (Olympians)
by George O'connor

Boneshaker
by Cherie Priest

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
by Marjane Satrapi

Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders (P.S.)
by Neil Gaiman

I'm from Salt Lake City, UT

Unknown said...

Gingerbread by Rachel Cohn
for Alchesay

and

Chinese Handcuffs by Chris Crutcher
for Ojo Encino

I wish I could do more right now, but money's tight. I think this is an amazing idea though! I wish it was running longer than 2 weeks, so I might have more of a chance to help out. Either way, hopefully some of the kids out there will like these. :)

Emily said...

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Firebirds: An Anthology of Fantasy and Science Fiction

for Ojo Encino School

Wonderful idea, thank you so much for setting this up and making it so easy for people to help out!!!!

Emily in State College, PA

Unknown said...

Sent Gary Paulson's "Dogsong" to Alchesay (he came to our BN this week -- really nice man!), and Ellen Datlow's "Coyote Road" to Ojo Encino.

Anonymous said...

The Eyre Affair, Chosen, House of Night #3 & Here First : Autobiographical Essays By Native American Writers

Heather said...

For Alchesay High School:

The Golden Apples of the Sun
by Ray Bradbury

Nothing But the Truth (and a Few White Lies)
by Justina Che Headley

Black Box
by Julie Schumacher

The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp
by Rick Yancey

Summerland
by Michael Chabon

I heard about this from Neil Gaiman's tweet, so hopefully more people will be following.

Steph W. said...

I bought:

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

and

Counting Coup: A True Story of Basketball and Honor

for the Arizona school. Great idea!

Red said...

To Ojo Encino was sent -
~Once a Wolf: How Wildlife Biologists Fought to Bring Back the Gray Wolf (Scientists in the Field)
~Saving the Ghost of the Mountain: An Expedition Among Snow Leopards in Mongolia (Scientists in the Field)

from one biology geek to hopefully several others!

To Alchesay was sent -
~Briar Rose
~ Three Shadows
~The Last Unicron
I loved all of these books when I read them, hoping they will too. :)

This is wonderful, thanks for setting it up so we could take part and help out!

I've sent this link out via Twitter, Facebook and on my blog hoping to get more help for you.

Evelina said...

For New Mexico:

Runaways Vol. 1 & 2, The War to End All Wars, and Men on the Moon

For Arizona:

Pretties, Fast Food Nation, and Black Hawk Down

Alissa, Oklahoma City

Faren said...

For the AZ High School
Good Omens by Gaiman and Prachett

Faren from McPherson, KS

Julie Zaccone Stiller said...

I heard about this from Neil Gaiman's tweet.

To Ojo Encino I sent Flora Segunda

To Alchesay High School I sent: Good Omens by Neil Gaiman

EJK said...

Dan Eldon, The Journey is the Destination,
for Alchesay High School in Arizona.

Knowing Dan's story and seeing the book on the list made me tear up a little. I hope the kids enjoy it, Dan's story is incredible.

Colleen said...

Thank you to all of your for your amazing generosity...this has just been awesome.

And EJK - I feel the same way about Dan Eldon...I've had a copy of this book since it first came out and I never fail to be impressed by how amazing he was. The whole world lost a lot when we lost Dan.

Todd Thorne said...

Ray Bradbury: Martian Chronicles and The October Country

Cherie Priest: Four and Twenty Blackbirds

...now headed for Alchesay H.S.

What an inspiring, diverse reading list! It's a delight to see these teens get this opportunity.

Melissa said...

The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven and
First Indian on the Moon, both by Sherman Alexie

Alchesay High School

Jayna said...

The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
by Barack Obama

and

The Wildlife Detectives: How Forensic Scientists Fight Crimes Against Nature (Scientists in the Field)

by Donna Jackson Kallner

Jayna M, in Portland, OR

Anonymous said...

For Alchesay High School:
Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog from Iraq by Riverbend
The Blue Girl by Charles de Lint
Life Sucks (08 Edition)
by Abel
Mexican Whiteboy by Matt De La Pena
My Family and Other Animals (04 Edition) by Gerald Durrell
October Sky by Homer Hickam
People Like Us: Misrepresenting the Middle East by Joris Luyendijk
Perfect Storm: a True Story of Men Against the Sea (09 Edition) Perfect Storm: a True Story of Men Against the Sea (09 Edition) by Sebastian Junger
Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Journey to Change the World... One Child at a Time by Greg Mortenson

For Ojo Encino School:
The names : a memoir by N. Scott Momaday

Timemaster Tim said...

I bought

"The Sandman, Volume 4: Season of Mists" by Neil Gaiman

for the Alchesay High School.

I'm Tim from Germany, I found this site via Neil Gaiman's Twitter-feed.
I chose this book (a graphic novel) because I am great fan of Neil's and this is my absolute favourite volume of the Sandman series.
I got a used edtion as I have no money to spare. But I just needed to participate, I honestly can't tell what a great idea this is! Thanks for doing this - I hope it spawns lots of copycat efforts.

Jenny J. said...

For Ojo Encino:
The Mysterious Universe: Supernovae, Dark Energy, and Black Holes (Scientists in the Field)
and
Waifs and Strays, by Charles de Lint

Wish I could do more!

Anonymous said...

For Ojo Encino:

How to Ditch Your Fairy
The Legend of Johnny Appleseed: The Graphic Novel (Graphic Spin)
The Vintage Bradbury
Mountain Windsong: A Novel of the Trail of Tears

I'm from Maryland/Illinois.

Anonymous said...

I literally just read Sherman Alexie's "True Diary..." today! My son and I LOVED it. I read it very quickly and cant wait to read more of his stuff :) Are slightly used copies ok? We took good care of it. I will send it pronto and share this post too. Good luck! I love to help more kids read :)

Jenny Schwartzberg said...

I sent The Invention of Hugo Cabret to Ojo Encino and The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam to Alchesay. They are wonderful books and I hope they love them. This is a great project!!

I'm from Chicago, IL.

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for all the hard work that went into this project! What a wonderful idea!

I sent Kaleidoscope, Space Planes, and Jellicoe Road to Alchesay High School.

I also had problems with the wish list check boxes during ordering. I was only able to check off one, so I hope it gets updated OK!

I'll spread the word about the book drop on my blog too.

Colleen said...

Thanks to all of you for your generosity!! I have made sure the wish list is updated, so thanks for letting me know about problems/issues you've had with the lists.

Janflora - we are encouraging anyone interested in sending books direct to get in touch with us first. I'm sure that an extra copy of Sherman Alexie would be most appreciated by either school, however so feel free to send your along!

Unknown said...

I've bought Alchesay copies of White House Autumn and Long Live the Queen. I hope whoever reads them loves them as much as I do.

AlisonG said...

Alison Gresik here from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

For Ojo I bought:

Glass Slipper, Golden Sandal (one of my daughter's favourite picture books!)

The Misfits by James Howe and
Gilda Joyce, Psychic Investigator, both of which I've read and loved

Spilling Ink by Ellen Potter (cause I'm a writer)

Anonymous said...

For Ojo:
Bloody Jack #1 by L.A. Meyer
The Moves Make the Man by Bruce Brooks
Side Effects by Amy Koss

For Alchesay:
Eagle Blue
Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Malinda Lo said...

Saw your post on Chasing Ray about how GEOGRAPHY CLUB by Brent Hartinger still hadn't been bought, so I went and bought it for the Ojo school.

Malinda Lo
San Francisco

Sheila said...

For Ojo:

Superman for All Seasons
Math Doesn't Suck
Mythbusters

For Alchesay:

M is for Magic
Don't Try This at Home

I live in Chicago, but am originally from South Dakota.

Anonymous said...

Got a book each for both of these schools. What a wonderful idea! :)

Hope the kids will have fun reading.

CJ Omololu said...

For Alchesay:
Shine Coconut Moon
Tips on Having a Gay Ex Boyfriend
Burned

Easy and fun!

cloudy808 said...

For Alchesay:

-Mort
-Equal Rites
-The Color of Magic
-The Light Fantastic

All Terry Pratchett. All DiscWorld.

Nora said...

For Ojo Encino --

Artemis Fowl 1 and #2:
Basher Planet Earth: What Planet Are You On?
When Fish Got Feet, Sharks Got Teeth, and Bugs...
Prehistory of Life Long Before Dinosaurs
The Boy & His Mud Horses: & Other Stories from the Tipi
Slam!
The Secret Science Alliance and the Copycat Crook
The Girl Who Married the Moon: Tales from Native North America

From Massachusetts

Anonymous said...

Kiss My Math: Showing Pre-Algebra Who's Boss (1 New Trade Paper @ $15.00)
The Plain Janes (1 New Trade Paper @ $9.99)
Al Capone Does My Shirts (1 New Trade Paper @ $6.99)

For Ojo Encino

Colleen said...

Thanks everyone! We really appreciate all of your generosity!!!

Anonymous said...

Bewulf
The Periodic Table: Elements with Style
Home to Medicine Mountain

All to Ojo Encino Day School

† Herzleid † said...

Great initiative! =) I've sent the following:

Ojo Encino:
The Wolves in the Walls by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

Alchesay High School:
You Can't Read This: Forbidden Books, Lost Writing, Mistranslations & Codes by Val Ross
Stardust by Neil Gaiman

YA Sleuth said...

Just bought four books for Alchesay HS, and posted Operation TBD on my blog: http://yasleuth.blogspot.com/

What a great cause!

bookagent said...

Just sent the following to Ojo Encino
The Wright 3
How the Incredible Human Body Works
Fantastic Feats and Failures
Top Secret: Handbook of Codes, Ciphers and Secret Writing
Ladies of the Lake

This is a lovely idea!

Rochester, NY

Vildea said...

For Alchesay High School;
Shrimp by Rachel Cohn
Native Musicians on the Go! (Native Trailblazers)
Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific by Raft by Thor Heyerdahl
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
Ironside: A Modern Faery's Tale by Holly Black
Cupcake by Rachel Cohn
Vampire Academy #03: Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead
Vampire Academy #04: Blood Promise by Richelle Mead
Vampire Diaries #01: The Awakening by Richelle Mead
Vampire Diaries #02: The Struggle by Richelle Mead

I went into this thinking I'd get more educational books, but in the end the teen girl in me won out. From the looks of things the teens at Alchesay will be getting Blood Promise before I am! Oh well. I also couldn't help (oh nationalism, how I love you) but get Kon-Tiki. I just couldn't -not- buy it, being Norwegian and all myself! :P

Now if you excuse me I've got a few books for Ojo to get as well!

*Back*

Alrighties, this is what I ended up getting for Ojo Encino Day School.

Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
Animals Up Close: Zoom in on the World's Most Incredible Creatures by DK Publishing
A Life in the Wild: George Schaller's Struggle to Save the Last Great Beasts
by Pamela S. Turner
Shakespeare Makes the Playoffs by Ron Koertge
The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn by Dorothy Hoobler
The Demon in the Teahouse by Dorothy Hoobler
The War of the Worlds (Graphic Revolve)
Dingo by Charles de Lint
Lifelines: Creating Memory Art to Chronicle Your Personal Connections by Carol Wingert
A Midsummer Night's Dream (Manga Shakespeare)
Mockingjay (The Hunger Games #3) by Suzanne Collins
The Boneshaker by Kate Milford

This time I did acheive some variety, although I ended up getting more books than I was supposed to! So now it's uneven between the two =/ Will see if I don't remedy that a bit later so it's even. I also got them 2 preorder books so they'll have something to look forward to once this is all over as well =) (I haven't even ordered Mockingjay yet!)

Hope they enjoy them =) Seems like there's at least a couple of writers/cartoonists to-be at the schools, which is great!

Best wishes from Norway!

Vilde A.

Leslie said...

To Alchesay, I bought:

"Farewell to Manzanar"
"Native Musicians on the Go!"

They should arrive on the 29th. I checked the boxes for the wishlist, but somehow the items were not shown as being "fulfilled" on the wishlist. Do they have to ship before they are "fulfilled"? Thanks for arranging this!

Sewicked said...

Re-Gifters (Minx) for Ojo Encino Day School in NM (cause my mom graduated from high school in NM).
Arlene M

Carol H Rasco said...

So much fun! My extended family always likes to give a gift to some institution or group for our Easter gift to one another, and you guessed it, I swayed them to this project for this year as we were a little late getting it all together and when we started talking, along came these lists (we were busy celebrating the first birthday of my grandson Easter weekend).

We've ordered for Ojo: Megiddo's Shadow, Adam Canfield of the Slash, Creature, Cold Light, The Thousand Nights and One Night, Grease Monkey, Exploratopica, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Something Wicked This Way Comes, One Crazy Summer.

To Alchesay we are sending: Mockingjay, Pride and Prejudice, Creature, Eternal, The Life of the Skies, Spilling Open, The Cars of Overhaulin' with Chip Foose, Lifelines: Creating Memory Art...., Soulless, Something Wickedly Weird #01, March Toward the Thunder, The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain, Thirteen Reasons Why, The Empress's Tomb: Kiki Strike.

Bravo to all involved in producing this terrific opportunity!

Unknown said...

I just ordered My Secret: A Postsecret Book by Frank Warren, The Calder Game by Blue Balliett, and Warriors: Navajo Code Talkers by Kanji Kawano for Ojo Encino.

Thanks for organizing this great project!

Blair said...

The Right Stuff, Apollo 13, and Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country for Alchesay- I wish I could do more, there are so many great books on the lists.

Angela Hoffman said...

Thanks for offering and promoting such a wonderful program. We just purchased the following books for the Alchesay High School:

Autobiography of My Dead Brother
by Walter Dean Myers

Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions by Neil Gaiman

Lips Touch Three Times by Laini Taylor

Dogs I Have Met: And the People They Found by Ken Foster

Going Bovine by Libba Bray

Best,

Angela & Seth
Knoxville, TN

Corina B said...

Bought the following for Alchesay: Carter finally gets it, Indian Trains (07), Truth and Bright Water and Monster Garage: How to customize damn near anything!

So wish I could have done more. Thanks for letting me part of this.

Corina
Peoria, AZ

Colleen said...

Oh you guys - you are all so crazy awesome, you have no idea! The schools are both so excited about this. I can't wait to update you all with pictures of when the books arrive (hopefully this weekend!!!)

Lorie Ann Grover said...

So psyched to buy Beth Kephart's House of Dance for Alchesay! Thanks, Colleen. Totally rocking the drop!

Angela said...

This made my day!!!

Sam B. said...

I got Native Women of Courage for Alchesay High School.
Sam Bloom
Cincinnati, OH

Unknown said...

This is absolutely amazing. I hope there are more book drop events in the future.

I bought:

Yarn Bombing: The Art of Crochet and Knit Graffiti for Alchesay High School (I couldn't help it. I'm a knitter and this sounds amazing. I can't wait to pick it up for myself)

and

Runaways Volume 3 and No More Dead Dogs for Ojo Encino Day School

Colleen said...

Thanks guys - for all of these. And yes, Mia - doesn't "Yarn Bombing" sound like fun? It was a recommendation from our very own Shelf Elf and I'm delighted to see it on the way to Alchesay.

EJK said...

Thank *you*, Colleen, for posting about Operation Book Drop - I heard about it via Neil Gaiman's tweet -this was awesome and wonderful to be involved with!! I live in Montréal now, but I went on a lot of road trips down into the southwest as a child, and have very fond memories of that part of the world. I'm glad to have been able to give something back, and quite excited for them to get their books. Keep us posted!
~ Liz K, Montreal

keribrary said...

Alchesay High School
-- What It Is
-- American Shaolin

Ojo Encino School
-- Dark is Rising box set
-- Robot City #2

Keep up the great work, guys!
Keri C. from St. Louis, MO

Carol H Rasco said...

Because RIF is in the process of packing an office for a move, we were unable as a staff to participate on the 15th in the Book Drop. We determined that our method of participation would be to order books from your lists for these two schools. We applaud the attention being called to the needs of American Indian school libraries, a mission we share in our Multicultural Literacy Campaign. Thank you for providing this opportunity, I will get a list to you later of the books we selected this evening for shipment to each of the two sites.

Carol Rasco
Reading Is Fundamental

Carol H Rasco said...

Last night I was running low on energy when RIF finished our purchases in honor of Operation Teen Book Drop. Here goes:

Alchesay High School
The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them; Mission Control, This Is Apollo: The Story of the First Voyages to the Moon; T-Minus: The Race to the Moon; Dog Years: A Memoir (P.S.); Bad Dogs Have More Fun: Selected Writings on Family, Animals, and Life by John Grogan for the Philadelphia Inquirer; Marley: A Dog Like No Other; Where the Red Fern Grows; Manga Shakespeare: Julius Caesar (Manga Shakespeare); The Vintage Bradbury; The Chosen (Captain America);Vampire Kisses #01: Vampire Kisses: The Beginning; If I Die in a Combat Zone: Box Me Up and Ship Me Home; The Tree of Life: Charles Darwin; Starry Messenger; The Sandman Volume 6: Fables and Reflections; Fantastic Feats and Failures; The Dreamer; The Invention of Hugo Cabret; Firebirds Soaring: An Anthology of Original Speculative Fiction.

For Ojo Day School
Artemis Fowl #06: Artemis Fowl: Time Paradox, the (New Cover); Artemis Fowl #05: The Lost Colony; Mission Control, This Is Apollo: The Story of the First Voyages to the Moon; A Dignity of Dragons: Collective Nouns for Magical Beasts; Amelia Rules! #01: The Whole World's Crazy; The Illustrated Atlas of Wildlife; Divine Canine: The Monks' Way to a Happy, Obedient Dog; In the Belly of the Bloodhound: Being an Account of a Particularly Peculiar Adventure in the Life of Jacky Faber (Bloody Jack Adventures); Adam Canfield, Watch Your Back! (Adam Canfield of the Slash); Manga Shakespeare: Hamlet; Manga Shakespeare: Julius Caesar The Chosen (Captain America); The Tree of Life: Charles Darwin; Al Capone Shines My Shoes; The Most Fantastic Atlas of the Whole Wide World by the Brainwaves; Charles Darwin and the Beagle Adventure

Thanks for this opportunity!
The staff of Reading Is Fundamental

M Jules Aedin said...

For Ojo Encino:

Indigo's Star
Saffy's Angel
Treasure Island (Graphic Revolve)
Ragtag
Native Athletes in Action
The Wild Girls

For Alchesay:

Song of the Sparrow
Stotan!
New Directions Paperbook #0676: Black Mesa Poems
Biology: Life As We Know It!
Ophelia
The Illustrated Man (Grand Master Editions)

This is awesome. :)

Jules

Colleen said...

Thank you everyone - I've added all of you to the top post listing contributors.

And Carol, we are thrilled to pieces to be a small part of what RIF does everyday. You guys are wonderful and what you have done to support Alchesay & Ojo Encino is amazing.

Elle said...

Colleen, Just saw a post about this on David Macknet's blog. Purchased a few books for the New Mexico school...Twilight books because most kids...especially teens... want to read what the others are reading. Thanks for such a great event!

Kidsmomo said...

Just sent "Amelia Rules! #4: When the Past Is a Present" to Ojo Encino Day School. Love that series, and hope the students there will enjoy it too!

Question: I tried to buy "The Tempest" (manga version) for Alchesay because it said that 1 was desired and 0 were received. But when I start to check out, it says "No more needed." What should I do? I'd *love* to share a manga take of that play with the students at Alchesay. The original was really meaningful for me when I was in HS (you know, a hundred years ago).

Thanks!
Karen (from Kidsmomo.com)

Colleen said...

Karen:

Aaagh! You're not the only one with this problem. It's hitting "already sent" because the book was bought for Ojo - even though it's still on the Alchesay list. (This is a problem that I'll be going over with Powells at length when all is said and done so they can fix it for the future.)

Feel free to buy the book though - basically override what it tells you about the lists - and then just let us know via comment or email that you bought it and I can manually tag it as "received" on the Alchesay list.

THANK YOU!!!

Chelsea said...

Awesome job! I bought a copy of Impulse by Ellen Hopkins for Alchesay High School. Thanks for putting this together!

-Chelsea from OH

Kidsmomo said...

Thanks for your quick response, Colleen! Serves me right for waiting until the last minute on this. Anyway, I just ordered "The Tempest" (manga version) for Alchesay. Thanks so much for putting all of this together!

Karen (from Kidsmomo.com)

misskate said...

Ran into that wishlist glitch. I ordered Native Americans' Thought of It, Mercury and Megiddo's Shadow, but it wouldn't let me take them off the Alchesay wishlist.
Thanks so much for running this!

Unknown said...

Got the 'No more needed' thing but I think it all worked out in the end;

The Bermudez Triangle
by Maureen Johnson
March Toward the Thunder
by Joseph Bruchac
The Snake Scientist
by Sy Montgomery
Counting Coup: Becoming a Crow Chief on the Reservation and Beyond
by Joseph Medicine Crow

and

Wild Girls by Pat Murphy
White Sands, Red Menace by Ellen Klages
who are both local San Francisco authors, so I couldn't resist :)

For Alchesay

MissA said...

Mocassin Thunder: American Indian Stories of Today by Marie Carlson.
For Alechesay high School.

It sounds like a great book. Thanks for this opportunity colleen, readergirlz and Guys Lit Wire!

I'm thrilled to see all the comments with book titles (I was hoping to buy a book I'd read and loved, but I was happy to see that there were very few books left to buy).

I wish I could have given more =/

Unknown said...

Whip It by Shauna Cross
Kiss My Math: Showing Pre-Algebra Who's Boss by Danica McKeller
Cartoon History of the United States by Larry Gonick
Laika by Nick Abadzis and Hilary Sycamore

for Alchesay HS

Jen

Unknown said...

'Marik" is my husband - I don't have a gmail account or (it seems) any of the other openID - so this was the only way I could comment!
:)(: Pam

Swimming with Hammerhead Sharks
Gorilla Doctors: Saving Endangered Great Apes
The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets: An Enola Holmes Mystery
Scat
When Bugs Were Big, Plants Were Strange, and Tetrapods Stalked the Earth

Charlotte said...

For Ojo:

Jason and the Golden Fleece
Flying With the Eagle Racing the Great Bear
Hollow Kingdom Trilogy #02: Close Kin
Hollow Kingdom Trilogy #03: In the Coils of the Snake
A Wolf at the Door: And Other Retold Fairy Tales

For Alchesay
Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith
The Cartoon Guide to Physics

Thanks so much for doing this!

Kate Hart said...

For Alchesay:
Conversations with Sherman Alexie

Barbara Fisch, Blue Slip Media said...

Just sent Heart of a Champion to Alchesay.

Barbara Fisch, Blue Slip Media said...

Knights of the Hill Country to Ojo Encino Day School. You guys rock!!

Colleen said...

Thank you everybody! I've added your purchases to our contributors' list and promise to keep you all updated with a post in the coming days about how the books are going over at the schools.

You all rock.

Vickie Beene-Beavers said...

I know these titles aren't are the wishlist but I sent Troy CLE's Marvelous Word series to both the Ojo Encino Day and Alchesay High School. This fantasy series will have every reluctant reader reading!

Cat Moleski said...

In Darkness, Death
The Sword that Cut the Burning Grass

Bookavore said...

THE CASE OF THE LEFT-HANDED LADY, BIOLOGY: LIFE AS WE KNOW IT!, and HINDENBERG DISASTER for the New Mexico school. A bizarre group of books for sure!

Jade L Blackwater said...

For Alchesay High School:

The Hive Detectives: Chronicle of a Honey Bee Catastrophe (Scientists in the Field)
by Loree Griffin Burns

Names a Memoir Sun Tracks Volume 16
by N Scott Momaday

From P, B, & J in Kitsap County, Washington.

Happy Reading!!!

Jade L Blackwater said...

For Ojo Encino Day School:

Paleo Bugs: Survival of the Creepiest (Paleo)
by Timothy J. Bradley

Paleo Sharks: Survival of the Strangest
by Timothy J. Bradley

From P, B, & J in Kitsap County, Washington.

Happy Reading!!!

Vivian Mahoney said...

Awesome drive! For Alchesay High School:
Othello Manga
Trojan War Marvel Illustrated
Moby Dick Marvel Illustrated
Extreme Scientists: Exploring Nature's Mysteries from Perilous Places
Building Big
Science Warriors: The Battle Against Invasive Species

Alchesay should get this around May 6th.

Shayna said...

Superman for All Seasons

Don't Try This at Home: Physics of Hollywood Movies

to Alchesay High School

I'm from Arkansas. I had a book drive last year for my hometown Middle School library after the school was devastated by a tornado. People were so generous, so I wanted to return the favor a little.

Colleen said...

Thank you all so much for keeping this going and helping us to go out this last weekend in such wonderful style. And Shayna - thanks especially for paying it forward.