WYOMISSING, Pa. – Barnes and Noble and Judith’s Reading Room are kicking off their holiday book drive this weekend in Berks County.
The drive will help fill “book deserts” in local schools, libraries, book mobiles, day care centers, hospitals, and even military bases overseas. It will also help get books into kids’ and adults’ hands.
Your donation when you check out at Barnes and Noble in Wyomissing goes to Judith’s Reading Room, which was founded in memory of Judith Krug, who was a librarian for more than 40 years.
The founders of the Reading Room, who are based here in our area and are Judy’s cousins, say that what was top of mind for Judy was always defending the “right to read”.
She defended teachers, librarians, and the First Amendment throughout her work.
To honor her memory, Judith’s Reading Room has created 117 libraries in 28 countries and 11 states in the U.S. and donated more than 136,000 books since 2010.
“I have met people who have written to me or literally held my hand and told me how reading a book has been a safe place for them. It’s taken them to another part of the world. It has shown them the possibility of a career that they would never have known about had it not been for a book on robotics or oceanography,” says Cathy Leiber of Judith’s Reading Room. “And then, my gosh, where it takes you, maybe you can’t travel, you know, maybe you, you haven’t thought, you know, about sci-fi or fantasy or something, but reading allows you the most to have the most imagination.”
Here’s how you can “make a difference”. You can pay for a book to donate from November 1 through December 15 at the Barnes & Noble in Wyomissing.
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