Mountain of Books & Computers Heading to the Navajo Nation

Blistering 90-degree heat and stifling humidity couldn't stop our latest shipment to the Navajo Nation in Arizona.

More than 400 boxes of books, 31 Dell PCs, and 9 iMacs are on their way to the Navajo Nation Library in Window Rock, Arizona.

The books will fill shelves at the Navajo Nation Library and its branch libraries in Kayenta, Arizona,  and Crownpoint, New Mexico.

In addition, books and computers are being donated to the Red Mesa High School in Teec Nos Pos, Arizona, and St. Michael Indian School in St. Michaels, Arizona.

Over the past decade, Reader to Reader's Navajo Nation Book Drive has donated over 200,000 books, and hundreds of computers to libraries and schools on the 27,000-square-mile Navajo Nation.

$70,000 Worth of Books Headed to Navajo and Apache Schools

Reader to Reader offers a special thank you to SOHO Press for their generous donation of $70,000 worth of books for teens and adults!

The books are headed to schools and libraries on the Navajo Nation and San Carlos Apache reservation.

Editorial: Reader to Reader Exports Hope with Books

Thursday, November 10, 2016
Daily Hampshire Gazette

Page by page, an Amherst nonprofit continues to fight educational inequality by shipping free books to disadvantaged communities.

But there is more to Reader to Reader than tons of paper. This novel program, founded by David Mazor more than a decade ago, exports hope.

Yes, hope, that thing with feathers, as Emily Dickinson once ventured. “That perches in the soul - / And sings the tune without the words - / And never stops - at all -”

While best known for its book donations, Reader to Reader works to advance literacy – and the economic hope literacy ignites – in impoverished communities beyond this country’s borders.

Mazor’s program also serves as a lifeline to intrepid students from the Five Colleges inspired to design and launch their own global literacy projects.

Books remain the coin of the realm. Starting late last month, Reader to Reader made its latest book donation to schools in Native American communities in the Southwest — one of its oldest efforts.

Schools in New Mexico and Arizona are receiving more than 52,000 books worth half a million dollars. The program’s simple goal is to get books into the hands of children in underfunded schools, believing that reading lights fires of curiosity that, once kindled, cannot be extinguished.

As Reader to Reader has grown, new corporate relationships enable it to get many more books into schools like the Gallup-McKinley County Public Schools in Gallup, New Mexico, and the Central Consolidated Schools in Shiprock, New Mexico. Both are receiving books in the latest shipment, along with the Ganado Unified School District in Ganado, Arizona, the Hopi School District in Keams Canyon, Arizona, and the Tuba City Unified School District in Tuba City, Arizona.

The program crossed the 50,000-volume mark on this donation thanks in part to its ties to the Scholastic Corp., Pioneer Valley Press, Soho Press and other publishers.

A library staffer in the Gallup-McKinley schools, which are getting 14,000 books, says the program’s impact on students will be “profound.”

Separately, more than 21,000 volumes are headed to the Navajo Nation Library in Window Rock, Arizona. Reader to Reader is also shipping books to a Native American community that’s been in the news – the Standing Rock Reservation, whose members are fighting a pipeline project and reached out to the Amherst program for help to improve the library at a South Dakota campus of Sitting Bull College.

Not surprisingly, there’s been mission creep in the Reader to Reader ranks for years. Students from local colleges continue to serve as tutors and reading mentors. Many do that here in the Valley, as several did with the Summer of Power program for five weeks this year in Holyoke by helping students improve their English language skills. The program says 200 Five Colleges students, working in Massachusetts and New Mexico, are mentoring 1,400 low-income young readers.

Further afield, Reader to Reader continues to assist efforts, sometimes through its Springboard Program, to advance literacy in places like Managua, Nicaragua, Arani, Bolivia, and Santa Cruz, Costa Rica. The Springboard Program helps college students do global good.

They include the four students from Amherst College who’ve been improving a three-room public library in the village of Santa Cruz.

Reader to Reader does seem like “the thing that never stops,” as Dickinson wrote.

In that same poem, she said of hope: “I’ve heard it in the chillest land - / And on the strangest Sea - / Yet - never - in Extremity, / It asked a crumb - of me.”

For information on how to support Reader to Reader’s efforts, and perhaps provide some financial crumbs, visit readertoreader.org.

$500,000 in New Books to Native American Schools

(Photo: Lincoln Elementary students in Gallup, New Mexico get new books on Halloween)
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By SCOTT MERZBACH
Staff Writer/Daily Hampshire Gazette
Tuesday, November 01, 2016

AMHERST — Children of Navajo Nation and Hope Nation who attend schools in New Mexico and Arizona are receiving $500,000 worth of new books following a donation from an Amherst-based literacy organization.

A total of 52,126 books are being shipped directly to the various school districts in the Southwest for distribution, said David Mazor, founder and executive director of Reader of Reader.

“We are pleased to make this large donation in order to get as many books into the hands of children,” Mazor said.

The books, which are of general interest for students in kindergarten through 12th grade, are provided through Reader to Reader’s partnerships with Scholastic Corporation, which runs the Scholastic Possible Fund, and Pioneer Valley Press, Soho Press and other publishers.

Among the school systems receiving the books are the Gallup-McKinley County Public Schools in Gallup, New Mexico, the Central Consolidated Schools in Shiprock, New Mexico, the Ganado Unified School District in Ganado, Arizona, the Hopi School District in Keams Canyon, Arizona and the Tuba City Unified School District in Tuba City, Arizona.

Providing books for Native American schools represents a long-term commitment that has been taking place since 2005, Mazor said. In the past decade, Reader to Reader has donated more than $3 million in books.

The Gallup-McKinley schools will get 14,000 books, which are already being given out to students, including at Lincoln Elementary in Gallup.

“These books will have a profound impact on the children in our district,” Mary Lindenmeyer, library media coordinator for the schools, said in a statement.

In addition, the Navajo Nation Library in Window Rock, Arizona will receive over 21,000 books.

Reader to Reader also donates books to the Red Lake Nation in Minnesota and the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota, and this week began working with the Standing Rock Reservation after its members asked for help in stocking books in the library of the McLaughlin, South Dakota campus of Sitting Bull College.

Thank you to Bruce's Browser

We are always sad when a bookstore closes, but we are grateful to Bruce's Browser, Athol, Massachusetts, for donating all their books to us. 

The thousands of new books on a wide variety of topics will be going to the Navajo Nation library in Window Rock, Arizona. 

The Navajo Nation Library is the sole library serving the 27,000 square-mile Navajo Nation in Arizona and New Mexico.

Video Highlights of the Navajo Nation Book Drive

A short video on the Navajo Nation Book Drive, which has brought over 120,000 books, hundreds of computers, and thousands of school supplies to every corner of the 27,000 square-mile Navajo Nation

17,000 Book on the Way to the Navajo Nation

A hard-working team of Reader to Reader staff, Navajo Nation Library staff, and local volunteers loaded a 26-foot truck with 17,000 books and 24 computers.The truck is now on a 5-day, 2,331 mile journey to the Navajo Nation Library in Window Rock, Arizona. 

The books and computers will be donated to schools and libraries all across the Navajo Nation.

This is Reader to Reader's 7th year partnering with the Navajo Nation Library to bring books to schools and libraries on the Navajo Nation in Arizona and New Mexico.Twice a year, Navajo Nation Library representatives travel to Amherst, Mass. to pick up a truck load of books and drive it back home. 

Last year marked 120,000 books donated, and we continue to build on that number with each new truck load. 

Since 2003, Reader to Reader has donated over $2.5 million-worth of books, hundreds of computers, and thousands of schools supplies to every corner of the 27,000 square-mile Navajo Nation.

In Memory of Peter Matthiessen

The Reader to Reader family would like to extend our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Peter Matthiessen, an award-winning author and activist for the environment and Native American culture and history.  Mr. Matthiessen was a friend to our organization and a fellow champion of Native American rights. Matthiessen was a two-time National Book Award winner who also wrote "In the Spirit of Crazy Horse: The Story of Leonard Peltier and the FBI's War on the American Indian Movement."

In 2012, thanks to the generosity and dedication of Matthiessen, Reader to Reader was able to donate a special collection of 16 boxes of Native American books and papers to the Navajo Nation Public Library. This gift added greatly to the library and has been an invaluable asset to the archives of Native history.

We were deeply honored then to have been able to bring Peter Matthiessen’s collection to the Navajo Nation Public Library, and are honored today to have played a small part of his legacy. We hope that you will all take a moment today to remember him as an incredibly kind and dedicated man, whose commitment to the environment and to Native American history had substantial impact on this country.

Halloween Scares Up 17,500 Books for Navajo Nation Schools

Despite the spooky Halloween weather, our intrepid partners at the Navajo Nation Public Library are driving a book-filled U-Haul yet again! 

17,500 books and 21 computers are en route to the Navajo Nation, where they will be distributed to over 36 schools on the Navajo and Hopi reservations, the public library and its branch, Head Start programs, and Thoreau Community Center. The Office of the First Lady will also receive thousands of children’s books and college prep books for distribution across the Navajo Nation.

Director of the Navajo Nation Public Library Irving Nelson and his associate Everett Ettsity flew into Hartford, CT Wednesday night and picked up the U-Haul Thursday morning. Thanks to our incredible crew of volunteers, the loading was complete in only an hour and a half. Former mentoring students from Navajo Pine High School Jeff Chen and Kyle Clark were on site to assist, as well as community volunteer Paul Curran.  

Irving and Everett will drive the U-Haul back to Window Rock, Arizona after giving a presentation at the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian. The books and computers will be delivered along the way, and over the next several weeks. 

 This is the 9^th trip the staff from the Navajo Nation Public Library have made to deliver books across the reservation. Executive Director David Mazor said “I truly admire Irving and Everett’s unwavering dedication to delivering resources across the reservation. It’s a long trip and a lot of work, and as long as they’re ready for the journey we’ll have books for them!” 

We are delighted to continue our Navajo Nation Book Drive after completing the initial pledge of 100,000 books this May. Our work with the Navajo Nation is supported by the Fordham Street Foundation, Exclusive Car Services, the Office of the First Lady, and all of our volunteers, donors and supporters.

If you would like to support the work we do, please visit the “Lend a Hand” section of our website to learn more about holding a book drive and how to donate to Reader to Reader.  

15,000 Books Arrive on Navajo Nation

A huge truck rumbled up as 15,000 books completed a 5-day journey across the country to the Navajo Nation in Arizona.

The books will be distributed to schools, libraries, Boys & Girls Clubs, Head Start Programs and other areas of need across the 27,000 square-mile Navajo and Hopi reservations.

Reader to Reader staff and four Amherst College students flew to Albuquerque and drove three hours to Window Rock, Arizona to help unload the truck and deliver some of the books. The truck was driven by Navajo Nation Library officials that flew to Massachusetts to pick up the books.

The college students work during the school year in Reader to Reader’s Navajo Mentoring Program and are spending a week working with students at St. Michael Indian School in St. Michaels, Arizona.

Reader To Reader Reaches 100,000 Book Goal for Navajo Book Drive

AMHERST, MA--15,000 books are on the their way to Arizona and New Mexico. Reader To Reader, an Amherst-based nonprofit literacy organization, has reached its goal of donating 100,000 to the Navajo Nation Library located on the Navajo reservation in Window Rock, Arizona.

The book drive was launched in July of 2009 and ever since then Navajo Nation Library officials have traveled to Massachusetts twice a year to drive a large U-Haul truck full of books back to the reservation.

Reader to Reader staff and volunteers take six months collecting, sorting and boxing up books for each shipment. It takes the Navajo officials five days to drive back to Arizona spending twelve hours a day behind the wheel.



When the truck gets to Arizona it will deliver books to schools, community centers, a correctional facility, Head Start programs, Boys & Girls Clubs, and add thousands of new books to the Navajo Nation Library. It will also deliver some of the books to schools on the Hopi reservation.

“Everyone is very excited to have met our goal,” David Mazor, founder and executive director of Reader to Reader says. “It’s taken four years and there have been lots of wild things happen along the way, including flat tires and driving through Hurricane Sandy.

Last fall’s shipment was loaded on the day Hurricane Sandy hit and the truck had to shelter for the night in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania due to a curfew. Monday’s shipment was on a decidedly sunnier day. The need for books is profound, as there are no book stores on the reservation and the Navajo Nation and its small branch library are the sole libraries for the entire 27,000 square-mile Navajo Nation. The branch library was completely stocked with books donated by Reader to Reader.

David Mazor, staff person Kathryn Libby, and four Amherst College students are flying to Arizona on Friday where they will meet the bus and help with the unloading and delivery.

Even with the latest shipment of 15,000 books and a batch of refurbished computers, Mazor says the book drive is far from over. Now that Reader to Reader has reached 100,000 books the new goal is 200,000 books.

“Irving Nelson, director of the Navajo Nation Library, and I really enjoy working together and we both want to keep it going,” Mazor says. “We are grateful to everyone that has donated because without them it would not have been possible.”

People interested in donating book can email info@readertoreader.org or call 413-256-8595.

Books Bring Library Expansion

Students at St. Michael Indian School in St. Michaels, Arizona clean shelving units before their assembly.

Over the past year, Reader to Reader has donated thousands of books to replenish the school’s antiquated library. At the start of the school year a second adjoining room was opened for library use, including a bank of computers that were also donated by Reader to Reader.

With the large influx of books came a need for additional shelving units. Irving Nelson of the Navajo Nation Library in Window Rock, Arizona generously donated some used shelving units that the library was not using.

A special thank you to the Navajo Nation Library for their assistance in this project.

Books & Computers Arrive at Navajo Nation!

After battling Hurricane Sandy in order to bring over 16,000 books and 12 computers donated by Reader to Reader to schools on the Navajo Nation, officials and volunteers from Reader to Reader and the Navajo Nation Library unloaded 400 boxes after completing the 5-day 2,400 mile journey on Monday.

The books and computers will be distributed to 16 schools on the Navajo and Hopi Nations.

In addition, thousands of books will be added to the Navajo Nation Library in Window Rock, Arizona, and their branch library in Kayenta, Arizona.

Hundreds of books are also being donated to Martha Shelley, First Lady of the Navajo Nation, for her outreach work across the 27,000 square-mile Navajo Nation.

Reader to Reader founder David Mazor flew in for the unloading.

“I want to commend Irving Nelson for all his hard work. He is quite the hero. He drove through 1,000 miles of hurricane with the truck blowing all over the road, and encountered snow squalls and waves of driving rain, yet nothing stopped him.”

To date the Navajo Nation Book Drive, a partnership between Reader to Reader and the Navajo Nation Library, has delivered over 65,000 books and 60 computers to schools and libraries on the Navajo and Hopi Nations.

Navajo Librarian Battles Hurricane Sandy to Bring Books Back to Navajo Nation

With the winds of Hurricane Sandy hitting gusts of 50-miles-per-hour, Irving Nelson, Program Supervisor for the Navajo Nation Library in Window Rock, drove a 26-foot truck loaded with 7-tons of books through Massachusetts and Pennsylvania Monday.

Nelson is making his second trip this year to bring back over 16,000 books and a dozen computers that will be distributed to 16 schools on the Navajo Nation and Hopi reservation.

A similar trip in July brought back 15,000 books and 21 computers.

The books and computers are being donated by Reader to Reader, a Massachusetts literacy organization that has donated over $1,000,000 worth of books to the Navajo Nation in the past ten years.

A team of Reader to Reader employees and volunteers raced to load the truck, trying to beat the storm as it moved up the eastern seaboard.

“Irving Nelson is one of a kind,” said Reader to Reader founder David Mazor.” He’s very dedicated and he’s even willing to drive through a hurricane if it benefits the Navajo and Hopi people.”

It's not the first praise Nelson has received. In 2009 he received the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian's Prism Award.

The books are expected to arrive in Window Rock, Arizona on Friday, November 2, after a 2,300 mile journey, and will be distributed to schools the following week.

Some of the schools receiving books include St. Michael Indian School, Alta Vista Elementary, Jeddito School, Navajo Pine High School, Window Rock High School, Pine Hill School, First Mesa Elementary, Hopi Mission School, Second Mesa Elementary School, Moencopi Day School, Pine Hill School, Gallup Catholic School, Keans Canyon Elementary School, St. Bonaventure Mission Indian School, Valley High School, and Hopi Jr./Sr. High School.

In addition to the list of schools, books will make their way on to the shelves of boys and girls clubs, senior centers, the Navajo Nation Library and their branch library in Kayenta, the Thoreau Community Center, and will be given out by the First Lady of the Navajo Nation, Martha Shelley, in her outreach to Navajo children.

Navajo Nation and New Mexico to sign ‘MOU’ for Education

Navajo Post
Aug 14 | by: NP Field Reporter/NM

ALBUQUERQUE – On Tuesday, the NM Governor, Susana Martinez visited Mesa View Elementary School in Grants and Indian Hills Elementary School in Gallup to distribute reading books to incoming first graders and read to students.

Susana Martinez said, while addressing the crowd, “ With this MOU we send a clear message to the Native American student, you count you are important.. and most of all we believe in you”

President Ben Shelly also spoke and said, “ Our culture is our identity to the world and our language is our fingerprint” and “ I am happy that Governor Martinez and (NM Education) Secretary Skandera have taken on the vision of our people”

The Governor also signed a memorandum of understanding between New Mexico Public Education Department and the Navajo Nation, which will allow for data sharing between the two governments with the aim of improving education results for Navajo students.

On Monday, Martinez distributed books and read to students in Albuquerque and Belen. The Governor Communication director said, she is stressing the importance of reading during and after school, and the books are designed to help students have something to read at home with their family or friends in an effort to overcome the effects of the “summer slide” – skills lost while kids are out of the classroom during the summer months.

In June, Governor Martinez announced that the state had purchased over 30,000 reading books to be distributed to every incoming first grade student in New Mexico.

The Navajo Nation in general has been getting donated books from various non profit organizations, For the past three years, Navajo Nation Libraries have been flying across the country to Massachusetts to pick-up book donations from Reader to Reader, a Massachusetts literacy organization that has donated over $1 million in books and computers to schools and libraries on the Navajo Nation. The twice a year trips brought back over 30,000 books and 42 Dell computers this past year alone.

The proposed Navajo Nation annual budget for 2012-2013 will slash theses trips from two to one, and will also reduce the size of the truck in the sole remaining shipment from 26-foot to only 17-foot. The change in truck size will cut that shipment in half due to the lower weight limit of the truck.

Reader to Reader founder David Mazor said this budget reduction will mean 25,000 fewer books will be donated by his organization this coming year to meet the needs of the children and adults on the Navajo Nation, “We will be unable to send thousands of books given out by the First Lady Martha Shelly in her important literacy work, thousands of new books to fill the shelves of the Navajo Nation Library and their branch library in Kayenta, and also the thousands of books for schools, chapter houses, correctional facilities, community centers, boys & girls clubs, and substance abuse centers.”

Amherst group Reader to Reader sends more books, computers to Navajo Nation

By NICK GRABBE
Staff Writer
Daily Hampshire Gazette

Thursday, July 12, 2012

AMHERST - A truck loaded with 15,000 donated books and 21 personal computers left a Holyoke warehouse Monday and is expected to arrive at the Navajo Nation Library in Window Rock, Ariz., on Friday.

From there, the books will be distributed to libraries, schools, community centers and jails over the 26,000-square-mile area with a population of 300,000 in three states. The computers are destined for a school in Thoreau, N.M.

This is the sixth time that library director Irving Nelson has come to the Pioneer Valley to pick up books collected by Reader to Reader of Amherst. Since 2003, the organization has collected and donated 5 million books, worth about $50 million, and about a fifth of them have gone to the Navajo Nation, said David Mazor, the founder and executive director.

"We've made a commitment to these communities to bolster their resources in a substantial way," he said. Reader to Reader has focused on the Navajo Nation because tests of their children's reading ability are substantially below the national average, he said.

It costs the Navajo Nation about $4,000 each time Nelson flies to Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Conn., rents a 26-foot truck, loads it up and drives back to the Southwest. But Mazor estimated the value of the books and computers on this trip at $250,000.

Reader to Reader gets books from publishers, donations and library sales and sometimes buys them, Mazor said. About 40 percent of the 15,000 books on their way to the Navajo Nation are new, while the used computers were donated by Amherst College and have new software in them, he said. Most Navajos do not have computers in their homes, he said.

Mazor visited the Navajo Nation Library last spring to compile a list of books that would strengthen the collection, he said. Reader to Reader spent $2,000 on specific titles that it couldn't acquire by donation, he said.

Nelson was in Harrisburg, Pa., Tuesday morning with Everett Etsitty, a library employee who is helping him drive the truck. Nelson said Mazor has had a big impact on literacy efforts in the Navajo Nation.

"As we're flying over the country, I looked down from the plane and thought how there are millions of people out there, and David is one of those tiny specks down there, but out on the Navajo Nation he's the Jolly Green Giant that towers over the reservation," Nelson said.

Nelson and Etsitty were heading for Washington, D.C., where they expected to pick up more books at the National Museum of the American Indian on Tuesday.

Reader to Reader has its offices at the Cadigan Center for Religious Life at Amherst College, and stores about 10,000 books there. It often gets walk-in donations, Mazor said.

"I get calls almost every day from someone who wants to bring books to us, from all over the area and the country," he said.

Reader to Reader donated more than a million books to schools and libraries in New Orleans in response to Hurricane Katrina. This year, it has donated books to Ghana and Costa Rica, and also to schools in Holyoke, Springfield and Chicopee.

Nelson said Mazor is helping the Navajo Nation at a basic level because reading is the foundation of education.

"We're so fortunate that we're working with him, and it's improving our library tremendously," he said.

Daily Hampshire Gazette © 2012. All rights reserved

15,000 Books, Computers, on the Way to Navajo Nation

Seven months of book collecting, including hundreds of hours sorting and packing boxes, came to a conclusion with a 3-hour frenzy of loading, as the latest shipment of books headed off to the Navajo Nation Library in Window Rock, Arizona.

The shipment of 15,000 books and 21 computers will benefit libraries, schools, community centers, senior centers, and correctional facilities all across the 27,000 square-mile Navajo Nation.

“We are so excited here at the high school we can hardly contain ourselves,” said Susan Clement, principal of St. Michael Indian High School in St. Michaels, Arizona. She adds that she is expanding her school library into an additional room in anticipation of the 69 boxes of books and 5 computers that will be coming from Reader to Reader for the library. An additional 17 computers will be used to build a new computer lab for the school.

The fourth shipment in Reader to Reader’s Navajo Nation Book Drive, the donation brings the total donation to 60,000 books to date. Reader to Reader’s ultimate goal is 100,000 books.

Irving Nelson, the director of the Navajo Nation Library, flew to Hartford, Connecticut and rented a truck in order to transport the books on their 5-day journey to the Navajo Nation. His 12-hour days of driving are shared with library employee Everett Tsosie.

“We are so pleased to work in partnership with the Navajo Nation Library in order to bring this valuable resource to the people of the Navajo Nation.” Said David Mazor, Reader to Reader’s founder. “This donation has a value of over $200,000 and working together we have been able to provide this rich resource very economically.”

Based in Amherst, Reader to Reader is a global literacy organization that has donated 5 million books across the United States and in 14 countries.

Kayenta Library Extends Reach of Navajo Nation Library

A 2½ hour drive from Window Rock, Arizona, the recently opened branch library in the town of Kayenta gives greatly increased access to books to people living on the Navajo Nation in the northern part of Arizona. It is already popular with the 5,189 people in Kayenta and also draws readers from surrounding towns.

The library is overseen by the Navajo Nation Library and is housed in a converted mobile home. It has been stocked with 5,000 books, the majority of which were supplied by Reader to Reader.

There is still some room on the shelves, and we look forward to sending many more books this July in the latest phase of our ongoing Navajo Nation Library Book Drive.

A special congratulations to Navajo Nation Library director Irving Nelson for all his hard work in setting up the library.

Creating Hope, Sending Books to Thoreau

Just in Time for the Holidays,15,000 Books for the Navajo Nation

Just in time for the holidays, 15,000 books, as well as, computers and toys are heading for the Navajo Nation.

The donation is the second that Reader to Reader has made this year to the Navajo nation Library and brings the 2011 total books donated to the Navajo Nation to over 50,000 books. 13,000 new children's books were donated to 33 schools in August.

Navajo Nation Library director Irving Nelson commented on the quality of the books. “The books we get from Reader to Reader are outstanding. This past year we were able to discard 17,000 old, worn-out books and replace them with the great books that Reader to Reader donates. There are books for every age, every reading level, and every interest.”

The books left Reader to Reader on Tuesday morning, and Irving Nelson will spend five days driving them back to Window Rock, Arizona. It is a long trip but definitely worth it says Nelson.

“I look forward to coming back in July for the next 15,000 books. These books not only help our library, but they also are used all over the Navajo Nation. We deliver them to Boys and Girls clubs, correctional facilities, and senior centers as well.”

The books came from lots of sources, including publishers and individual donors. The Bement School in Deerfield, Massachusetts collected over 2,000 children's books.

“The books took six months to collect, but only three hours to load thanks to a great team of hard-working volunteers,” notes Reader to Reader founder David Mazor.

The latest shipment also includes 40 boxes of books for area schools, and a batch of computers to replace antiquated computers at Navajo Pine Middle School in Navajo, New Mexico. The computers were donated through Reader to Reader’s computer donation program that supplies refurbished Dell computers to build computer labs and outfit classrooms.

Hundreds of books and donated toys will be given out to children in time for the holidays. In addition, over a thousand new children’s books were donated to Navajo Nation First Lady Martha Shelly. The First Lady travels across the 27,000 square-mile Navajo Nation to read to children and give out books to encourage literacy.