World Book Night

Last night was World Book Night!  It was the second time I’ve participated.   Per its website, “World Book Night U.S. is a celebration of books and reading held on April 23, when 25,000 passionate volunteers across America give a total of half a million books within their communities to those who don’t regularly read.”

Also according to the website, “In 2012, World Book Night was celebrated in the U.S., the UK, Ireland, and Germany and saw over 80,000 people gift more than 2.5 million books.” 

I was one of those 25,000 and 80,000!  Once again, I had a lot of fun.

This year I gave away copies of Lisa Scottoline’s Look Again.  As with last year, there were a lot of books to choose from to be my giveaway, and I got my first choice both times.  I was particularly excited about promoting, and giving away, one of Lisa Scottoline’s books.  She’s an avid Cavalier King Charles Spaniel fan, as I am, and she even posts lots of pictures of hers on Facebook! 

The same pet-loving friend who’d helped me last year joined me this year.  We started off at the Panera Bread in Studio City, California, one of my favorite haunts.  We strolled Ventura Boulevard around there, visiting a Starbucks, a Peets, some restaurants--and popping in at Lucky Puppy Rescue & Retail, an amazing shop where dogs are rehomed and dog products are sold. 

We talked to a lot of people and gave away all the books.  Once more, there were dubious people who didn’t believe the books were free, others who couldn’t be convinced that they should read--although I wasn’t overly pushy, of course--and yet others who might not have been avid readers but nevertheless loved the idea of receiving a new book to read, the kinds of people who were our targets.  And of course there were some who loved to read--my sort of person!

We ended up at Bookstar, the Barnes & Noble store where I had picked up the books to give away, to report about how great the evening had been. 

Would I do it again for the third time next year?  Absolutely!