“Pass along your love of reading, literally.
Become a WORLD BOOK NIGHT giver.”
http://www.worldbooknight.org

World Book Night is April 23, 2012. Who knew? Not me, until I happened to visit the Web site of Watchung Booksellers, one of my favorite book stores. There I came across a bold announcement for World Book Night. This event was first held last year in the UK and proved to be such a success that it’s jumped across the pond and hit America.

The goal is to have book-loving volunteers pick up 20 free books from a specified location and then fan out across the country on the night of April 23 and give out the free paperbacks somewhere in their communities: a coffee shop, hospital, church, local school, shopping mall, or recreation center.

1 night, 30 titles, 50,000 volunteer givers, and 1 million — that’s right, 1 million free books! What an inspired idea! The 30 books being made available by publishers cast a wide net: they’re all profiled on the World Book Night Web site. Among them are: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, The Kite Runner, A Prayer for Owen Meany, The Glass Castle, and The Book Thief.

To be selected as a volunteer, you need to be 16 or over and a US citizen; be willing to pick up 20 copies of your book from a local bookshop or library; and committed to giving the books away on World Book Night to people who may not be frequent readers.

If the idea of sharing your love of reading and passion for one of the 30 books listed appeals to you, then check out the World Book Night Web site (www.worldbooknight.org). You can sign up through February 6. Write on!