Our school has had a birthday club for approximately 5 years and it does well.
Our School librarians come up with a book "wish list" every year. We work with a local independent book seller who also gets a copy of our library's wish list, so people can go directly to her to buy the right kind of books. The independents seem to want to work with us vs. the biggie book super stores.
The school librarian puts a book plate into the book the students donate commemorating the event. Then the name of the book and the name of the donee goes into the school newsletter.
(another comment) The independent book stores are also more generous in donating cool stuff for our raffles - example - a certificate for a copy of the Harry Potter V book - that is due out in June.
One of our volunteers turned 80 last september and in lieu of gifts we had a big birthday book drive for "Mr. Joe". We used our local bookseller and we collected over 100 books in 3 weeks from Mr. Joe's friends, family and school students.
It was a proud moment and it's a great program! DO IT!!
The staff also buys books in honor of their co-workers birthdays, this does well, but we have to keep advertising the "birthday book club" in our newsletters. The Mr. Joe's birthday was certainly a windfall!!!
This idea has always been a popular one with school librarians! I donated two books to our school library, the last month I was there at the elem. school, in honor of my two children that attended that school for 6 years each. The librarian helped me with the choices, one was about a kid that loved basketball (and that was the sport my son loved too), and the other was a book on Guinea Pigs (because that's what my daughter loved reading).
I need to remember to run over to the school and find out exactly what books we donated, and take pictures of them for the kids scrapbooks. Inside the front cover will be a plaqu that the librarian had made up, noting that the book was donated by our family, in honor of (name of child) that attended (name of school).
Thanks for helping me think of this great idea to add to their scrapbooks!
"The downside to purchasing books yourself is that the district has a review committee that must approve those books. Every book the librarian receives in this manner must go past the review board before it can be shelved. The books on their wish list will usually be on a list of previously approved books, but you never know."
Hey KC- we have been able to work "around" this by askin parents to look at the Scholastic book club orders and think of the school's library when ordering OR we have wish lists posted during our book sales. There was a HUGE issue with the Goosebump series so the parents asked if we could do this instead! We also did bookfairs at Barnes and Noble a couple years back and offered the same wish list (teachers went "dreaming" online for the books they wanted to see in the library).
We have a very successful birthday book club that the librarian and one volunteer handle. This has evolved over the years and now runs very smoothly. It is done every two months. The chairperson sends out a letter to all the kids that have birthdays for two months (for instance, in March she will send out letters for kids with April and May birthdays) saying something about how our school is proud to support the birthday book program and if you would like to donate a book in honor of your child's birthday it would be appreciated very much.....There's a due date towards the end of the month it's sent out and then the second sheet has books that can be purchased. They are divided by grades but you can purchase any of them or if there is a book that you would like to get that's not on the list you can contact the librarian and she'll see if she can get it. The costs are not more then $10 and usually under $5.00. The parents send the money in with the form. There is a special book plate made up and then the childs picture is taken when the book comes in (digital camera) and they are given a thank you note with the picture and also are allowed to be the first person to check the book out. All the childrens names are listed in the school newsletter. Done this way the librarian can list books that perhaps children have been requesting and replace well loved books. We probably have 20 books donated every cycle.
The librarian had a bookshelf of the new books, and students being honored could choose one of those books. A bookplate was put in noting the honoree, and a small presentation ceremony was held when their classroom was in the library. There was a flat rate for the program, rather than tracking individual book costs. The money received then went into the librarians account for purchasing new books next year.
The librarian could also give you specific titles of interest. However, bookstore bindings are not as durable as library bindings. Thus, they would indicate that if you were going to buy the book yourself it would be better to buy softcovers -- more books for your money.
Also, anybody who wanted to could just go out and buy some books and give them to the library. You will hear stories of groups doing this to support their agenda: I recall reading a few years ago about a Gay & Lesbian activist group that tried to donate books like "Annie On My Mind" and "Megan Has Two Mommies" to every school in their local district.
The downside to purchasing books yourself is that the district has a review committee that must approve those books. Every book the librarian receives in this manner must go past the review board before it can be shelved. The books on their wish list will usually be on a list of previously approved books, but you never know.
Hi! We are looking into starting a "Birthday Book Club" where parents could donate either a children's book or money to the library in honor of their child's birthday. We would identify the book a label as a donation in honor of the child's birthday.
Does anyone out there do this? Do your librarians have a wish list or do parents buy any book of their choice?
