Donate Books or Organize a Book Drive
JCL strives to provide the children and families we serve with new or gently used books. They treasure their own personal library, which encourages reading at home and helps young readers build their skills.
This is a wonderful social-service or bar or bat mitzvah project and is also a deeply meaningful activity for synagogue, school and workplace communities.
We’d love to hear from you if you’re thinking about organizing a book drive. We can provide a multicultural wish list and additional guidance. Contact Corinne Jaffe-Gellman for more information.
If you’re collecting gently used books, please make sure that they are fully intact & free of writing.
Our wish lists have a range of titles to reflect the diverse backgrounds of the children we serve.
Books should be appropriate for children ages 5 to 9 to read to themselves.
The books should be of universal appeal and appropriateness. Books on religion or from PJ Library are not appropriate, nor are books on health, health, and hygiene.
Many thanks for your interest in giving this wonderful gift.
Culturally Responsive Book Selection
Some things to consider when choosing books for your students.
Diversity of Characters
The curriculum features visually diverse characters, and the characters of color do not all look alike.
There are references to different ethnic and cultural traditions, languages, religions, names and clothing.
Diverse ethnicities and nationalities are portrayed – not all Asian families are Chinese, not all Latinx families are Mexican, etc.
Diverse family structures (i.e., single parents, adopted or foster children, same-sex partners, other relatives living with the family, etc.) are represented.
Characters with disabilities are represented.
Characters of color are main characters and not just sidekicks.
If there is conflict in the storyline, the characters of color are not mostly considered the problem.
Accurate Portrayals
Characters of color are not assumed to have low family wealth, low educational attainment and/or low income.
Gender is not central to the storyline. Female characters are in a variety of roles that could also be filled by a male character.
Social situations and problems are not seen as individual problems but are situated within a societal context.
Characters of diverse cultural backgrounds are not represented stereotypically or presented as foreign or exotic.
Problems faced by people of color or females are not resolved through the benevolent intervention of a white person or a male.
Diverse characters are rooted in their own cultures and are not ambiguous.
Note: Choosing books is not an exact science. Many children's books feature anthropomorphic or animated characters. Applying these criteria may be more relevant for some books than others. This is intended to provide a lens.
Source: J. Bryan-Gooden, M. Hester, & L. Q. Peoples (2019). Culturally Responsive Curriculum Scorecard. New York: Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools, New York University.
You can also donate to enable JCL to purchase books that meet our requirements.
For example, The Jeff Astor Foundation donated $500 to enable JCL to purchase 130 new books from Scholastic, which we donated to children attending Jamestown Community Center’s after-school program in San Francisco. Families at Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School in Mountain View learned about JCL’s work from two of our teen tutors and created messages to include with the 60 new books they donated. These books were given to Bay Area Court-Appointed Special Advocate organizations working with children in foster care.