Champions of reading bounce back off the ropes

The last time we checked in on Roger and Susan Atlas, in 2023, their project to get as many free books as possible into the hands of readers was foundering . Since then, the've turned things around. Roger Atlas explains.

When DISCOVERBOOKS went bankrupt, we lost almost our entire supply of 48 tons of books annually which we provide to 400 non-profits. Our largest destination for books was Books to Prisoners. We feared not being able to continue giving at a high enough quantity.

We learned the importance of managing risk. We diversified our sources of books to obtain from libraries, more school districts, lost & found departments and other non-profits. This year we are on track to distribute over 30 tons of books … to everyone’s collective

relief.

This summer our emphasis will be on events for refugee and immigrant communities. These events need more children’s foreign language books from regions at war (e.g. Russia/Ukraine, Arabic/Farsi/Pashto/Dari, Somali/Amharic) or regions of low income former European colonies (e.g. Portuguese, French, Spanish) which are generating many immigrants.

If you have access to books to donate, please contact Books to Prisoners, bookstoprisoners@live.com.