When Larry Abrams was teaching at Lindenwold High School, he realized that one of his students, who was also a new mother, didn’t read to her baby. He put a post on Facebook asking people if they had any children’s board books for her and the other student moms in the school. The student’s daughter was thrilled by the books, and the mom came back to Abrams asking for more.
That one simple request has turned into a mission for Abrams, who founded BookSmiles in 2017. The nonprofit gives away about 100,000 books a month to educators in New Jersey and Philadelphia.
BookSmiles obtains books in unique ways. In addition to having colorful donation bins around South Jersey near its Pennsauken headquarters, the organization accepts donations from estates and picks up donations of 2,500–6,000 books statewide.
BookSmiles also works with book resellers. “The children’s books would often go into the landfill or into the pulper because there is no market whatsoever for a used Dr. Seuss hardback, even though it’s in beautiful shape,” explains Abrams.
If someone donates a valuable book, BookSmiles will sell it on eBay, too. Abrams also plans to hold an auction for the really valuable books they’ve accumulated.
Next up is purchasing their own warehouse, which is currently the target of their capital campaign.
“With that, we’ll be the biggest book bank in the nation of our kind,” he says.
