Who Says Boys Don't Read?

Every year for the past eleven years, our family has collected children’s books for the Wood Memorial Book Drive.

People know about our book drive and often hand us bags of wonderful books. Area schools and businesses have helped our collection efforts as well.

But we’ve never had anything like this happen:

A couple weeks ago while volunteering at our school’s book fair, I met Lucia, a fellow volunteer. When a student was a few dollars short, Lucia reached into her pocket. That child left with the book she’d wanted. And I left with a great impression of Lucia.

Two days ago, Lucia called. “Do you still need books for your book drive?”

“Yes.”

“My son, Todd, has some he’d like to donate.”

With a couple plastic bags in hand, hubby and I showed up at their home. We should have brought a Mack Truck.

Stacks of books covered their dining room table. Hardbacks. Paperbacks. Fantasy. Mystery. Humor. Classics. Current favorites.

“309!” said Todd, a sixth grader, standing beside the books.

“Did you read all these?” I asked.

He nodded. Then he helped us load his books into our car so we could bring them to the Palm Beach County Literacy Council to be distributed to children in our area.

Todd’s a charming kid who collects author’s autographs. He handed me a card and asked for mine. I put my signature at the end of sincere thank you note.

Thank you, Todd, for proving the naysayers wrong. Boys do read! Thank you for generously donating your books so other children can have good books to read. And thank you for being the kind of kid who makes me glad I’m a children’s book author.

If you’d like to drop Todd a line, leave a comment on this blog, and I’ll make sure he reads it. A gift certificate is on its way to Todd so he can begin to replenish his supply of books.

Happy reading everyone and hope your holiday happenings are happy ones,

Donna