The administration and library of the Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium in Vilnius is holding their annual book drive to celebrate Tu b’Shvat. In a letter to parents and the community, school administrators wrote:

Dear reader,

Tu b’Shvat is drawing near, the New Year of trees. The Gymnasium is continuing our tradition and is asking the community to mark this holiday by donating books to the school library. In this way we pay respect to the trees which have been made into books, passing on from generation to generation to us the knowledge, wisdom, beauty and dreams of the whole world. Let us be as trees: firmly connected by our roots to the past and continuing to draw strength from that past, always growing slowly but resolutely, ceaselessly growing towards heaven.

We are a Jewish school, Jews are the People of the Book, and we must strive to have a rich library! Therefore we call upon students, parents and teachers to take part in this campaign and to donate books to the library.

The campaign is scheduled to run from January 16 to February 2.

What we need and further information:

● NEW and POPULAR books beloved by children.

● If your bookshelf at home has a book which has been read but is in good shape (and published not earlier than 2014), please consider donating it. It will circulate from the library to many more homes.

● The best criterion for selecting a book to donate: donate those books which you would like to find in a library for yourself and your children.

● To aid in choosing, a list is attached [see below]. These are books which are recommended according to the latest curricula which the library still doesn’t have (or has too few copies). Some books required by the curricula have been sold out at bookshops, so it would be greatly helpful if you buy them used from private individuals, something the school is unable to do.

● Pupils in the primary grades can bring the donated books to their teachers. Secondary students should bring them straight to the library where there is a public donation box set up at the door. If homeroom teachers agree, the entire class can bring the donated books to the library together.

● All people donating books are invited to place a page inside the book containing their names. It would also be great if the donor could write a few words about the book, why it is special, and perhaps a note or wishes for future readers. This makes the donated book even more valuable.

● All books donated will be registered and placed in a public exhibit for everyone to appreciate.

● The Gymnasium pledges to match the number of donated new books.

● One donor or one class will be awarded a special Librarian Prize, based on subjective criteria. Our librarian will decide, and she might like the number of donations, interesting notes to future readers, information about the book or something else entirely.

Let’s give the gift of reading!

Ieva

For more information, contact Indrė Rūtkauskaitė, phone: +370 68413902, email: irutkauskaite@gmail.com

List of books sought: Knygu sarasas_2