Better World Books Project

UPDATE:
DECEMBER 4, 2013: On this, the day of my mother's birth, I would like to announce to everyone that I have now officially  thirty-nine (39) books!  That's almost my whole list, with a few exceptions and additions (Goldilocks and La Llorna - Thanks, Abby and Teresa for those two gems!).  Please keep them coming, and if you see any book related to Ethiopia, please order that, too.  And if you wouldn't mind, I could use extra copies of "The Lion's Whiskers" (both version) "Fire on the Mountain" and "The Perfect Orange."  Please and thank you!

NOVEMBER 19, 2013: I have officially received 17 books!  But I want to ask for a few more!  Any books relating to traditional American (and multicultural) holidays (religious and non-religious) like Christmas, Hanukkah, Halloween, Fourth of July, Dia de los Muertos, Chinese New Year, etc).

OCTOBER 2013: Within twenty-four hours of posting this plea, I have received word of five donations from three people!  You guys are fantastic!  Keep up the good work, and keep checking this page for what's been ordered!  Update #2: Within 48 hours, I now have 21 books all donated from this list from seven different people!  I'm so impressed right now I want to just faint!

Hello, all.

Last year, I made a plea on Facebook for friends to purchase books on BetterWorldBooks.Com and have them sent to me, here in Ethiopia.  Why Better World Books?  Because they are second hand books and allow for free shipping anywhere in the world.  Which means all you pay for is the price of a used book, and a kid in Ethiopia can learn about the Lorax or the Wild Things.

Because that’s exactly what happened.  A few good souls, namely David R, Sally B, Tod C and Linda C, heeded my request for books and sent me a few choice titles, including the Dr. Seuss and Maurice Sendak classics mentioned above.  And do you know what happened?

I put them in the hands of kids.

Unfortunately, I have no photos of this event, which I truly regret.  I’m sure the aforementioned book philanthropists would have loved to have seen where their efforts went, but unfortunately they’re going to have to take my word.  But I did extensive projects wherein kids of all ages, from little ones to experience teachers, got to experience the wonders of the land of the Wild Things and the tragic tale of the Lorax.  Trainee teachers wrote essays about what the Lorax meant about society and the environment and how they could use it with their classes while fifth graders made masks and scared each other just like Max.

One book is a powerful thing.  That's what I did with just two great picture books.  Think what could be done with more, and how many kids could get excited about reading.

I asked for books for all ages, from Kindergarten to eighth grade, and I got what I wanted.  Not only did I get a few choice picture books, but also some really meaty chapter books including Charlotte’s Web and the Tale of Despereaux.  I even read one book on my own that I’d never heard of called Wonder because it had a very interesting description.  And while it’s true that all these books are valuable, I realized through experience that the most powerful books were picture books, especially ones that had great read-aloud potential.

As a result, I’ve decided to renew my plea this year.  I am beginning a project with my friend, Belay, who was mentioned in my last post.  He has a private school and is piloting a read-aloud program that, if all goes well, can be rolled out to the public primary schools next year.  My role is to train his teachers on how to do engaging, learning-filled read-alouds to build critical thinking and problem-solving skills in young students as well as literacy skills through a combination of modeling, observation and experience sharing.  Ideally, if I do my job right, by the end of the year all of his teachers should be skilled enough to train other teachers in the public schools, and work with the new volunteer that will inherit the program when I leave.

So if you would like to be a part of this endeavor, you can do so with the easy donation of one picture book (or as many as you like).  Last time, I left the parameters very broad, so this time I’m going to close them in a little and request specific titles.  If you order one or more books from this list, please let me know so that I can update what I have and don’t have.

If you also know a book that’s great for read-alouds (and I’m talking to you, teacher friends), please give me the title and a brief summary and tell me what you normally use it to teach and I will, in all likelihood, add it to my list.  Multiple copies are OK, as I can always donate them to the library, Belay’s school, or the TTC.  OK?  OK, here it goes.  Any title with an asterisk is a book I’m particularly interested in getting my hands on because I already have an idea of a lesson that can go with it, so try and focus on buying those first.

Picture Books I Need for my Reading Program

In alphabetical order by title

The Best Bee Keeper of Lalibela by Christina Kessler and Leonard Jenkins (I'm told that this is actually really expensive.  Please don't pay upwards of sixty bucks for this!  Get something else!)

The Blue Stone by Jimmy Liao* (ONE COPY RECEIVED)

The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis (ONE COPY RECEIVED)

The Butter Battle Book by Dr. Seuss (ONE COPY RECEIVED)

A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni (ONE COPY RECEIVED)

Everybody Bakes Bread by Norah Dooley* (ONE COPY ORDERED)

The Feverbird’s Claw by Jane Kurtz (ONE COPY RECEIVED)

The Fire on the Mountain, and Other Stories from Ethiopia and Eritrea by Harold Courlander, Robert Kane and Wolf Leslau* (ONE COPY RECEIVED)

Fish is Fish by Leo Lionni* (ONE COPY RECEIVED)

Giraffe and a Half by Shel Silverstein (ONE COPY RECEIVED)

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein* (TWO COPIES RECEIVED)

Grandma’s Humongous Suitcase by Elsi Abebe (ONE COPY RECEIVED)

The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson* (ONE COPY RECEIVED)

The Gruffalo’s Child by Julia Donaldson

Horton Hears a Who! by Dr. Seuss (ONE COPY RECEIVED)

A House for a Hermit Crab by Eric Carle

It’s Mine! by Leo Lionni (ONE COPY RECEIVED)

Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Lionni (ONE COPY RECEIVED)

The Lion’s Whiskers by Nancy Raines Day (ONE COPY RECEIVED)

The Lion’s Whiskers and Other Ethiopian Tales by Brent K. Ashabranner (ONE COPY RECEIVED)

The Little Bit Scary People by Emily Jenkins* (ONE COPY RECEIVED)

My Book about Me by Dr. Seuss and Roy McKie

The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi* (ONE COPY RECEIVED)

Oh, the Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss* (ONE COPY RECEIVED)

One Hen by Katie Smith Milway and Eugenie Fernandes* (ONE COPY RECEIVED)

The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch (ONE COPY RECEIVED)

Perfect Orange by Frank P. Araujo and Xiao-Jun Li (ONE COPY RECEIVED)

This Child, Every Child by David J. Smith and Shelagh Armstrong

Trouble by Jane Kurtz and Durga Bernhard

The Rainbow Fish by Michael Pfister (ONE COPY RECEIVED)

Saba by Jane Kurtz (ONE COPY RECEIVED)

Silly Mammo by Gebregeorgis Yohannes

The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson (TWO COPIES RECEIVED)

The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss* (TWO COPIES RECEIVED)

The Stranger by Chris Van Allsburg

The Talking Eggs by Robert D. San Souci (TWO COPIES RECEIVED)

The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle (ONE COPY ORDERED)

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle (TWO COPIES RECEIVED)

The Wonky Donkey by Craig Smith and Katz Crowley

Yertle the Turtle by Dr. Seuss (TWO COPIES RECEIVED)

The Z Was Zapped by Chris Van Allsburg (TWO COPIES RECEIVED)

Also acceptable – any version of popular American folk and fairy tales.  Goldilocks, Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Cinderella, etc.  A copy of Aesop’s Fables would be useful too

ALSO RECEIVED: One copy of the tale of "La Llorona", one version of "Goldilocks."

Please send all books with free shipping at no additional cost that means you pay no money for it to:

Carlin Salisbury

PO Box 517

Hossana, Hadiya Zone, Ethiopia

Thank you so much!  All of you out there who said you’d give me a care package and never sent one, you can make up for it by spending ten bucks or less on a picture book for me from BetterWorldBooks.Com.  Once again, that website is BetterWorldBooks.Com, and the address is right above, centered, and in large print.

Remember, if you do make this generous donation to let me know, so I can tick off the titles.

In case you’re worried your shipment will get lost, well, let me just say that I’ve received every Better World Books shipment that I know about, so those haven’t gotten lost yet.  And besides, did I mention it’s free shipping?

Also, if you donate, I’ll put your name and the book(s) you donated on my AWESOME BOOK PHILANTHROPISTS list.

Please donate!  Thank you!