By Madeline

Last Tuesday, the BookSavers met to discuss and outline our goals for the year. After careful consideration and thorough thinking, we were able to decide on the ambitions we hope to reach in the 2015-2016 school year.

We hope to:

• Donate 15,000 books by next September

BookSavers with their team manager at the annual Pequot Library book sale (left to right: Alison, Andre (in the baseball cap), Brooks L, Brooks Morgan, Maddie, book sale volunteer, and Claire)

• Get 2,000 educators to sign up onto First Book so we can receive a tractor-trailer brimming with 40,000 books. If we receive the tractor-trailer, the books will be dispersed amongst the educators who helped us apply, and the remainder of the books will allow us to make more book donations worldwide.

Here, Claire is collecting some books provided by First Book. If we get the 2,000 educators, we can receive 40,000 new books. Currently, Team WBS has donated just over 40,000 books, so receiving these books would allow us to double our current donations!

• Publish blog posts once a week
• Expand our social media base
• Build two “Sneetch Machines.” One for our local library, the other for the Barnum School so we can help get Dr. Seuss books for the children there

Here are some of the empty shelves at the Barnum School, and Team WBS bringing books they collected in a book drive to start filling these shelves. The Sneetch Machine is WBS’ latest innovation: it is a rendering of the Sneetch Machine in Dr. Seuss’ book The Sneetches and Other Stories. The blueprint is nearly complete, and soon construction on the machines will begin!

• Read 50 pages or two chapters of whatever book our book club is reading each week
• Write to Malala (we are currently reading her book I am Malala and want to see if we can assist her in her efforts to educate girls, boys and impoverished children) and ask her if there is any demand for English books

BookSavers as they write their quote banners for the year. The quote spoken by Malala reads: “One child, one teacher, one book, and one pen can change the world.” We found this year’s quote etched into the walls of the United Nations. This is also what prompted us to start reading I am Malala. 

• Contact the United Nations to see if they are able to support us in our efforts to get the 2,000 educators, and also see if they are able to assist us in any other ways

Claire, Brooks Morgan, Maddie, Brooks L, and Emma on a tour of the United Nations

We definitely are going to be busy this year, but hopefully we will be able to reach these goals one hill, one valley, and one day at a time!

Past quote banners hanging in our schoolroom