Donated Reading for Youth in the Philippines
A joint effort between National Book Store and Mitch Albom’s A Hole in the Roof Foundation designed to reconstruct ten school libraries destroyed by Yolanda and stock them with books.
In November of 2013, one of the strongest typhoons ever recorded struck the Philippines, the deadliest storm to ever hit that nation. Called “Yolanda,” it destroyed many coastal towns in the Eastern Visayas region, killing more than 6,000 people, affecting over three million families, and destroying countless buildings, including many, many schools. Some were decimated, others simply washed away. Supplies – including books – were no longer an option.
Now, as the nation – and particularly the hardest hit Leyte province and the regional capital city of Tacloban – tries to rebuild, it desperately needs help. The children now have precious few reading resources and even fewer places to study.
Stories are the backbone of life. This is our chance to help rebuild lives with them.
On Monday, February 24, 2014, Mitch Albom visited the Pawing Elementary School in Tacloban where he launched D.R.Y. Libraries and pledged to help raise $160,000 needed for construction, partnering with the National Book Store Foundation to get it done quickly. Beginning with a $10,000 donation of his own, Albom has also pledged hundreds of copies of his own books to start filling the shelves, and has asked other writers to join him. Many of the world’s best known authors – listed here – have joined in the cause, and have pledged at least 10 copies of their books, one per library, from their personal collections.
Contributing Authors
The following authors have kindly donated their books to directly restock the school libraries:
- Rabih Aladeddine
- Isabel Allende
- Dave Barry
- Sam Barry
- Roy Blount Jr.
- Lisa Brown
- Michael Chabon
- Stephen Chbosky
- Mark Childress
- Harlan Coben
- Billy Collins
- Suzanne Collins
- Sarah Dessen
- Alexandra Enders
- Pamela Erens
- Becca Fitzpatrick
- Amanda Fortini
- Ted Habte-Gabr
- Arthur Golden
- John Green
- John Grisham
- Daniel Handler (Lemony Snicket)
- Robert Hass
- Amy Hempel
- Brenda Hillman
- Alice Hoffman
- Khaled Hosseini
- Greg Iles
- Walter Kirn
- Stephen King
- Jeff Kinney
- Sophie Kinsella
- Sheila Kohler
- Yiyun Li
- Meredith Maran
- James McBride
- RJ Palacio
- Ann Patchett
- James Patterson
- Ridley Pearson
- Matthew Quick
- Dawn Raffel
- Jason Roberts
- JK Rowling
- Lisa See
- Joan Silber
- Nicholas Sparks
- Maggie Stiefvater
- Amy Tan
- Scott Turow
- Ayelet Waldman