BookSmiles

06/01/2026

We teachers have the collective power to distribute millions of books to NJ and Philly kids who need them most. Thanks, NJEA for amplifying our mission through this article.

Teachers, take a few minutes to read it, comment, and tag people who need to know.

By Larry Abrams When I was a first-year teacher, a police officer caught me rooting through a dumpster behind my town’s library. I had scooped up books to grow my

05/28/2026

Thank you! In addition to holding book drives last month, the team from Old Navy also volunteered at the bookbank today! A massive thank you to the team members who came to sort books this morning.

05/28/2026

It's hard to read when you're hungry. No child should go without food, nor should they lack books in their home.

BookSmiles is proud to partner with The Community FoodBank of New Jersey, the largest food bank in the state. Together, we will get millions of books into the hands and homes of children who need them most. Feeding bodies and minds at the same time makes sense.

We have distributed books with Philabundance, Mercer Street Friends, Food Bank of South Jersey, and Sharing Excess

Do you know anyone who runs a food pantry? We've got the books!

05/26/2026

Win this set!
Teachers have great power, giving their kids books TO KEEP. The just-right book given at the right time changes a life!

What better way to end the school year than by gifting your students with a class set of Oh, The Places You'll Go!

How can you become eligible to win this raffle? Tell teachers about us!

1. Make sure to follow BookSmiles.
2. Put the names of 2-5 other teachers in the comments.
3. Go above and beyond by SHARING!.

This closes out on June 2nd!

05/21/2026

A message to those who just finished college:

You have a choice when it comes to your textbooks:
1. Sell them and use the proceeds to buy dinner.
2. Let them age for decades on shelves and pretend you'll need them one day.
3. Donate them to BookSmiles so we can trade them for gently used kids books.

Give a like if you feel #3 is the BEST option.

P.S. Yes, we will even take your outdated textbooks, like the ones held by AI-Old Guy-Carter if you bring them to the Book Bank!

05/19/2026

The top teachers borrow best practices from the business world, often without knowing it. They passionately serve their students, innovating constantly to provide a quality education. Great teachers adapt, learn, and treat setbacks as motivation to grow, just like entrepreneurs.

Last week Larry visited his old high school at the invitation of his friend and business teacher Trevor Hirsh to share with students how he built BookSmiles. What a joy to be back in the classroom.

What if more business people went into the classrooms to teach for a day! Imagine the impact!

Entrepreneur

05/17/2026

Admit it. You have books laying around the house that have been shelved for decades, some of which haven't been cracked open since Reagan was president.

Or maybe you've been tasked with clearing out a house because someone has passed away, leaving rooms filled with once loved books.

Consider bringing them to BookSmiles in Pennsauken, where we will help you offload and treat you to a tour of the Book Bank that has given away 518,775 books so far in 2026. Yes, we trade several tons of grown-up books each week for their weight in upcycled kids books.

And the great news news: we TAKE IT ALL if you bring it - including encyclopedias, outdated and damaged books, No books should go into landfill!

Share this post with potential book lovers and potential donors.

Learn more: booksmiles.org

05/16/2026

Now it's an empty space filled with debris. In a few months it will be a massive book bank filled with hundreds of thousands of upcycled books.

And the mission will expand, to give hundreds of thousands more children access to their very own home library.

Thousands of teachers will have robust classroom libraries, without spending thousands of dollars.

Book donors will drive from all over the region to donate once loved books gathered from cleaning purges, estates libraries, and downsizing.

Help us build this during our soon-to-be released Expansion Campaign.

Booksmiles.org

05/13/2026

Did someone say, "A donation of $5,520 check from a church!" Thank you Pastor Wes for creatively raising a hefty split plate at Ecclesicon. The proceeds also benefit Central Baptist Church of Riverton-Palmyra.

Other faith-based organizations see beyond the pews, to make the world a better place through fundraising for outside nonprofit charities. Will yours be next? Please contact [email protected] if your church, synagogue, temple, or mosque might start FUNDRAISING FOR LITERACY!

Unitarian Universalist Church in Cherry Hill, you've been doing this for years and we are grateful.

05/13/2026

What happens when you combine a museum, a library, and an author-booksigning? It happened at the Please Touch Museum last weekend. Imagine the delight of a child who picks their own books TO KEEP when visiting a museum! We love distributing book-wealth!

We thank the Please Touch Museum for providing the perfect venue to distribute thousands of books alongside author Hallee Adelman of .

BookSmiles thanks our regular volunteers, Lisa, Beth, Marty and Tom - and all the volunteers who helped us distribute nearly 6000 books in one day!