May 16, 2012

World Book Night 2012 - Wrapup

World Book Night 2012 was a success! Literary Lonestars was honored to be asked by BookPeople to organize a group to handout books all over Austin this year. Stephanie and I gathered our local literary buddies and set out for the afternoon. Thank you to Megan, Magan, and Jen for helping out. That's right, two Jen's and two Me(a)gan's and one Steph make for a fun evening. Here is a look into what we did:
Our first stop was to LifeWorks to surprise a GED class with books! The teens were excited about their books and they were so funny! Most everyone picked Sherman Alexie's, Part-time Indian, one of my favorite books. Even the teachers dog loved his new book.
Our next stop was to the Austin Children's Shelter where we handed out tons of books to teen moms and kids. We even stocked some of their shelves with donations from home. This is one of our favorite places and we love the staff and facility! Our group posed for a picture in their cute library - love these gals!
Next we went to Wooldridge Square Park and handed out books to a ton of people. Some people had already gotten books, Stephen King picture above, but we were super happy to promote our YA titles. Can I just say how much everyone fought over The Hunger Games books? I have never heard SO many expletives about getting a free copy. To say the least, they were so very excited!
Our last stop was to Zilker Park, one of my favorite places in town. This park is ginormous and we split up into two groups. We handed out most of our books here to families. There was one group of young ladies who jumped at the chance to read Wintergirls and The Hunger Games. The shot above was taken at Philosopher's Rock. Hey, everyone loves to read, right?
Boxes of books also made it to the American Indian Education program that is part of Austin ISD. This program serves Native American Indian students in the surrounding districts including my daughter's, Leander ISD. My daughters are a part of this program, yes Bigheart is Indian, and we were thrilled to give every high schooler a copy of Sherman Alexie's, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian. If you haven't read it, please do! 

If you get an opportunity to participate in 2013, I sure hope you do!

You can find WBN America at their website