World Book Night

World Book Night was Monday night.  Per its website, “World Book Night is a celebration of reading and books which will see tens of thousands of people share books with others in their communities across America to spread the joy and love of reading on April 23.”

I certainly enjoyed it!

I was one of the official book givers.  I even had a pin that said so.  I gave away copies of Sue Grafton’s Q is for Quarry.  There were a lot of other titles that people were giving away, too.

It took me only about half an hour to give twenty copies away.  A friend from the pet shelter where I volunteer came with me to help, and she did a great job! 

We started at a chain restaurant but got kicked out--even giving things away, and not selling them, was against their policy.   Then we went to the nearest Starbucks and got the manager’s okay--and even gave copies to some of the baristas!

Some people seemed utterly incredulous that books were being given away.  They seemed to expect me to tell them what the catch was.  But I showed them the back cover of the special edition plus my pin, and most of them walked away with a book. 

Then there were those who had no interest in reading books in any form.  I felt sorry for them for a lot of reasons.

The people I liked best were those who listened to what I had to say and were thrilled at the idea at getting a book for free.  Of course, they were mostly book lovers already--but I had no problem encouraging them to read even more.

Oh, and by the way, thanks to World Book Night I learned in person that Read Humane has begun!

I am delighted to say that I was chosen by Penguin Group (USA), of which Berkley Prime Crime is an imprint, to participate in their Read Humane program.  They’ve donated a substantial amount of money to the Humane Society of the United States’ Animal Rescue Team and, to encourage others to learn about the organization and to donate, they have printed copies of participating books with a special Read Humane seal and generated special store displays.  The other authors are Rebecca M. Hale, Alison Pace, Miranda James, and Sofie Kelly, as well as Nora Roberts, who is the program’s spokesperson. 

When we were done giving away books, we went into the local Bookstar, which had distributed World Book Night books to give them a report.  I checked their shelves to see if they had any copies of HOUNDS ABOUND, my new release, that I hadn’t signed--and there were also copies of BEAGLEMANIA with the Read Humane seal!  Read Humane versions of other authors’ books were already there.

All in all, Monday was a really fun night!  Can’t wait till next year’s World Book Night.