Help us give 10,000 books to kids
Remember the enchantingly bookish days of your own childhood? When you could easily get “lost” for hours in the pages of a good book, and in the magical worlds those stories conjured in your imagination?
Sadly, many children may miss out on this experience, simply because they don’t have easy access to books. When families lack reliable transportation, time, or resources to buy books or visit public libraries, children often miss out on the blissful mental “escape” and the richly imaginative inner lives that books — especially fiction — can provide.
I believe that everyone, no matter their circumstances, deserves to experience the blissful escape that fiction offers: the comfort, the wonder, the endless possibilities — and most especially, the hope — that come from getting lost in a good story.
So we here at Read+Purr pledge to fight book bans and censorship, to support public libraries and literacy programs, and to help get books to the children and families who need them most.
What if …
What if you could help even just one child discover the bookish magic that you remember so fondly?
And what if, at the same time, you could also rediscover the very same bookish magic — the enchantment, bliss, and comfort — that you thought you’d lost along the way?
Spoiler alert: You can!
On behalf of every new Story Club member, we’ll donate 12 books to a child.
Once a book nerd, always a book nerd
At its core, reading is a uniquely private and individual pursuit. But we’ve all been so conditioned to put everyone else before ourselves that we often feel guilty — or fear that we’ll be labeled selfish — when we do something that is so obviously, indulgently for us alone.
You know what, though? For nerdy introverts like you and me, these things that you do by yourself, for yourself — whether it’s reading or baking or painting or gardening or going for long solitary walks in nature — are the very things that will fill you with joy, contentment, and peace; that will keep you plugged in to your imagination and to the magic that you remember from your bookish childhood and that surrounds you in the real world; and that will make you feel more alive.
These activities are the opposite of “doing nothing.” (But if you were truly doing nothing? That’s perfectly okay, too! You don’t need anyone’s permission to rest.)
And they’re not selfish at all. They’re vital.
Your private, quiet me-time — whether it’s 10 minutes each day, or an entire afternoon — is, depending on your cliche of choice, how you fill your own cup. How you put your own oxygen mask on first. How you take care of yourself. And none of these activities deserve to be relegated to a few spare, leftover bits of your day. Your own well-being should never be an afterthought.
Taking care of yourself is the first, most important, step in being able to effectively take care of others, or fight injustices, or volunteer for causes you believe in, or simply live your life.
If reading for pleasure was your favorite way to relax and refuel but you gave it up along the way, and if, quite frankly, you still feel a little lost without it, now’s the time to embrace your inner book nerd, stride confidently back into the enchanted forest of your imagination, and read books you love. Read purely for the bliss of savoring the words and the images they conjure. And when anyone else (or your own brain) tells you that you shouldn’t read that novel, or that you shouldn’t bother reading at all, or that you’re “not doing anything” when you read, don’t listen.
Do you know other people — especially kids — in your life who are (re)discovering a passion for reading? Help them out by not dictating what or how they should read. Everyone deserves the joy of discovering the enchanted forest (or the distant planet, foggy moor, spaceship, desert plain, or giant futuristic city) that’s awaiting them in their own imagination. And reading for fun — on their own terms — is one of the best ways to get there.