The Boys and Girls Club of Central New Hampshire is holding a book drive, with a goal of stocking its club sites with more diverse children’s books for Black History Month.
The organization, which has afterschool locations throughout the Concord area, Kearsarge Region and Lakes Region, is partnering with Gibson’s Bookstore to create a wishlist of books that their club sites and early learning centers have requested.
Cady Hickman, Community Outreach Coordinator for the Boys and Girls Clubs of NH, said that the idea came about last month when a group of staff members who are working on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives within the organization, noticed that program staff have been requesting more books.
“We figured with Black History Month coming up, this is a great time to meet that need, provide some support through books,” Hickman said. “Books are a great resource to introduce different cultures, to introduce different families, to give kids a chance to explore different material, to let kids lead the conversation.”
The wishlist, available on the Gibson’s website, contains children’s books featuring Black characters, like Baby Goes to Market and the Lola Reads series, books about historic figures like Harriet Tubman and Martin Luther King Jr. and books with messages of inclusivity, like All Are Welcome and The Colors of Us. The Boys and Girls Club is seeking duplicates of the same books so they can be used at multiple locations.
The book drive started in January, and will continue until the end of February. So far, the organization has gathered about 90 books, according to Hickman.
People wishing to make a donation can purchase the books online from the Gibson’s wishlist, or in person at the bookstore. The wishlist can be found at: www.gibsonsbookstore.com/wishlist/712
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These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.
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