CBCA, Little Bookroom organise book drives for bushfire-affected children

The Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) in November announced a partnership with the not-for-profit Givit to raise money to buy books for children and young adults affected by the bushfire crisis.

Donations made on the Givit website using the dropdown ‘Books for Bushfires’ or the reference ‘Books’ will be used to purchase books from local independent retailers for fire-affected families and communities.

‘As Australia, her communities, people, flora and fauna, face the most catastrophic summer of fires and smoke, the CBCA is calling for support to encourage hope, resilience and optimism,’ the CBCA said. ‘We know that story, and story in books in particular, can effect real change in us, both adults and children.’

Melbourne-based children’s specialist bookshop The Little Bookroom is also coordinating a book drive for bushfire-affected primary school students.

The Little Bookroom is accepting in-store donations of new (or as new) books for the month of January. In a Facebook post, the store said it has several distribution options and ‘will carefully decide how best to get books to the right locations at the appropriate time (probably early in Term 1)’.

The store is also requesting help from volunteers to help triage and pack the donated books, and is asking authors and illustrators for personalised messages of support.

Category: Junior Local news