Author: One Page at a Time

Dystopian novels were the only teen novels I read for quite a while but then some really amazing books started coming out that deal with subjects that need talking about. Suicide, mental illness, school shootings, sexual abuse, discrimination, so many things that are such taboo topics. Things can’t possibly get better if they are ignored. Will things get better by reading a teen novel about such a subject? I don’t know. What I do know is that authors are at least brave enough to put words to paper and make people feel something. These are a few novels that are touching on some of these subjects that I’m glad I picked up and read:

I decided to take a drive and along the way I stopped at rest stops and left some books. I am hoping that they actually are getting used as I intended and not dismissed and tossed about. I saw kids and wanted to point out the books but man that would have made me look like a creeper. I’m hoping to make some special deliveries soon (CM I’m talking to you:-) but in the meantime I’ll just keep leaving books along the way.

Since I haven’t been seeing kids to deliver books, I tried something new. I left books out, with a note to enjoy the book and I hope that people are enjoying them. I still have so many books to get out there.

And I still have so many books inside this head of mine…..there are stories to be told and I want to tell them. It’s time for me to trust in myself and the stories I have bring them to the world. Tipper and Luna will be the perfect characters to bring these stories to life.

So it feels really good when I go to visit new kids that I haven’t visited before.  I get so excited to tell them about books, I wonder if I scare them sometimes!  I didn’t like to read as a kid but man I sure wish I had.  In this time of so much uncertainty, at least I can try to provide something that is a little normal.  

Donations are still coming in, even from the unlikeliest of places.  But I’m getting some beautiful books and it is much appreciated.    Business cards are made, business name is registered, now to work on a non-profit status….

“There’s at least 100 books in there” says the boy I have yet to meet.  He walked down to his neighbor’s house, where I was with the book mobile, and stated what I think every morning, “there’s a lot of books in there”.  While to children, it is just a bunch of books, to me it is something so very different.  Well sort of.  Yes there are a lot of books crammed into my car but that isn’t all I see.  I see a world where kids can discover new ideas, visit a favorite character, find a new adventure.  Maybe they will  pass on some knowledge  and not even know it. 

Moving bins in and out of my car certainly doesn’t do anything for anyone’s body but it is what it is right now.  I long for the day when the side slides open, the step stool is down and the sound of  voices and laughter come booming out.  Yes, someday there will be a van but for now I transport these adventures in a bin in my car.

New pictures because new stops!!

Sunday September 20th marked the first “event” that the book mobile had. I parked the car in the parking lot of the school that I work at and as parents drove through to get math books, I flagged them down like a crazy woman. Fortunately for me, they mostly all knew me. I’m calling it an absolute win even though not every car stopped. Kids that I work with got new books, I got to talk to them and their parents and all felt normal for that bit of time…except for having books in bins in the back of my car.