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You may have seen some of the news stories about recent efforts to ban books in school libraries. As a positive, celebratory counterbalance to these efforts in our community, T.A.N.K. working with a coalition of authors, local libraries, and community groups, to put together a week-long celebration of diverse children's books. "We are ALL readers” is a weeklong celebration of children’s literature that will run April 4-9, and will feature hands-on creative workshops, outdoor Story Walks, and free virtual school visits from authors and illustrators. As the culminating event, on April 9th from 1pm-5pm, we will host eight award-winning authors who will be speaking and signing books, along with fun hands-on literacy and bookmaking activities for kids. (List of authors can be found here.) Our goal is to create an event that celebrates windows and mirrors in children’s books, spurs the imagination of young readers, and gives children the opportunity to engage with great literature and build authentic connections with authors. We want to inspire kids to read, write, and grow. We would deeply appreciate your support! Normally a book festival like this is planned a year or more in advance. Because we are working to address an immediate need in our community, we have less than three months to pull this event together. We need $4,000 to make it happen. Any amount that you feel able to give will have a huge impact! We are small and scrappy and running this on a shoestring budget with community volunteers, so we have no overhead. Every dollar will go to paying for the space rental, event materials, and speakers. No donation is too small! If you are interested in donating as an organization, suggested sponsorship levels are here: We Are All Readers sponsorship levels How to donate: The umbrella organization for our coalition is Towards an Antiracist North Kingstown, which is a 501(c)3, so all donations are tax deductible. The easiest way to donate is by venmo (if you have venmo!) https://venmo.com/u/TANKRI or search for @TANKRI in venmo under businesses. Write "We are all readers" in the note line. You can also write a check to "Towards an Anti-Racist North Kingstown" and write "We Are All Readers" in the note line. You can mail them to We Are ALL Readers c/o Jeanette Bradley, PO Box 1932, East Greenwich, RI 02818. Thank you so much for your support! Please feel free to contact me with any questions or for additional information.
Jennifer Lima
T.A.N.K. Co-President