Book Aid International Sends More Than 35,000 Books to Middle East

U.K.-based charity Book Aid International has announced that 35,362 brand-new publisher-donated books are being provided to eight partners across the West Bank and Lebanon. 

More than 18,000 books are currently en route to five partners in Lebanon, one of whom is the Lebanese Chapter of International Board on Books for Young People (LBBY). Nearly 17,000 additional books will also leave London shortly, bound for three partners in the West Bank. Donations span children’s books for NGOs running public libraries, as well as medical and higher education texts for universities and medical settings.

“When conflict closes classrooms and forces families to flee, the books we provide enable our partners to find creative ways to keep children reading,” Samantha Sokoya, Book Aid International’s head of programs and partnerships, said in a press release. “We’ve heard of partners holding classes under trees and worked with them to create lending libraries so that carers and kids can read together at home. That’s the power of books—wherever they are, a space for learning, hope and imagination is created.”

Book Aid International accepts donations of brand-new books from the book trade and financial contributions from anyone who wants to support the organization’s work.