A Moment of Gratitude for your Raditude

As you already know, our book drive for Operation TBD was an enormous success, sending over 700 books total to Ojo Encino Day School in New Mexico and Alchesay High School in Arizona. We were a sellout, thanks to all of you who donated and helped spread the word--and thanks in no small part to Mr. Neil "Himself" Gaiman, who tweeted multiple times and brought even more traffic to our little corner of cyberspace (a fortuitous occurrence that made us squeal like fanboys and -girls).

We were, frankly, floored by everyone's generosity. By way of thanks, we want to feature some of the comments and notes that really made this process worthwhile for us. We may have set up the donation process, but all of you--you are the stars of the show. You sent the books. Thanks to you, these kids have amazingly well-stocked libraries, and in this day and age when school libraries are suffering funding cuts and (in some sad cases) closing down entirely, a good library is a blessing.

--insert comments from school librarians here--

Here's what some of you had to say about the book drive:

I just finished reading Conspiracy (A Conspiracy of Kings, Megan Whalen Turner) this afternoon and absolutely loved it. I noticed that The Thief was already purchased when I opened the wish list earlier this week, but now I see I can make Megan Turner's fourth book my Attolian contribution! I've ordered it for Ojo Encino. Congrats on your successful bookdrop! - Brenessa, New Jersey

Thanks again for organizing this. It's a privilege to support you in changing the world, one book, one kid at a time. - Sara Lewis Holmes

I just sent one of my favorite reads 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. - Jan Von Harz

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

Rock on, GuysLitWire Heroes! - Loree Griffin Burns

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

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

Thanks to you guys for doing this, and Neil Gaiman for tweeting it, I love that I can be inspired to share my love of books with kids halfway across the world I'll never meet (I'm in the UK). I hope they provide years of inspiration. - Muireann Grealy

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

Heard about this through Neil Gaiman's twitter feed. Fantastic work you're doing. - Claire from Portland, Oregon

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!! - Jenny Schwartzberg, Chicago, IL

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. - Con

Sadly this is the last time I can shop for you but I had to go and fill in some of those series gaps, it drives me nuts when I can't get my hands on a full series. - Jodie

So wish I could have done more. Thanks for letting me part of this. - Corina, Peoria, AZ

Got a book each for both of these schools. What a wonderful idea! :) Hope the kids will have fun reading. - saba1789

I went into this thinking I'd get more educational books, but in the end the teen girl in me won out. ...Best wishes from Norway! - Vilde A. [Vilde sent over thirty books! Yowza!]

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. - Carol Rasco, Reading Is Fundamental [We were amazed by RIF's extremely generous donation.]

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

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

Thanks so much for organizing this drive. I wish I'd known about it sooner! - Kristin Cashore

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. - MissAttitude

I'm totally jumping up and down, Colleen! Thanks to every single person who helped fulfill these Wish Lists. I am gobsmacked! - Lorie Ann Grover

I sent Alchesay "Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes..." and "Shiver". I have passed on this information to my friends as well. I can't say how much I appreciate the time you took to create such a great wishlist of books. - Anah

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. - Shayna

Thanks to all of YOU for returning favors and having the heart to give, and for sending us your heartfelt comments. This was your show, and for these students, it's going to make a huge difference for years to come. Thank you. Thank you.