For the Love Of Reading: NorthParan.com Gives Free Books To Black Children In ATL

A few months ago, I announced my partnership with NorthParan.com, an online black bookstore that boasts the most comprehensive collection of books by, for and about people of color. The editors at NorthParan.com had me at black books, but what really made me want to lend my name to their project was the site’s irresistible promise: For every book sold on NorthParan.com, NorthParan.com will donate a book to a child of color who neither owns nor has easy access to them.

In keeping with its promise, NorthParan.com recently partnered with the Southeast Teen Conference of Jack & Jill to give free books to the students of Burgess-Peterson Academy in Atlanta. As part of the giveaway, the hubs, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and author Nick Chiles, and I talked to the kids about our love of great books, read aloud two of our favorites Faith Ringold’s “Tar Beach,” and Ann Cameron’s “Julian’s Glorious Summer” and then led the kids in a writing exercise, with the assistance of Jack & Jill’s teen volunteers.

You can read all about the spectacular giveaway here on NorthParan.com. And the good folks at NorthParan.com sent a videographer to film the event, so that readers who purchased books at the site could see the Buy One, Give One program in action.

This giveaway couldn’t have happened without the customers of NorthParan.com, whose love for and purchase of black books made it possible for a group of beautiful brown babies to go home with their own books. Check out the video below and know that your good works purchasing and reading black books made this happen. And for that, the editors of NorthParan.com and I simply say, “Thank you!”