Give a Kid a Kindle

Give a Kid a Kindle

Note: the first Kindle has been ordered for the first recipient. We are not going to operate this program in April, but may do another round in May, 2014.

Books change lives.

As an inveterate, life-long reader, I know that.

I also know that there are children out there who aren’t able to easily get books.

I want to help with that, and I am fortunate enough to be able to do it.

In January and February of 2014, I’ll be posting stories here that I receive nominating a child to get a Kindle.

During March of 2014, readers will be able to recommend that a child get a Kindle, based on that story (it will be a simple one question poll).

In April of 2014, I will send whichever child gets the most recommendations in March a Kindle. If it’s a tie, I’ll randomize it amongst those with the highest number of recommendations.

I’m doing this because I know what a difference books have  made in my life. and I want to share that with others.

To nominate a child

Add a comment to this page (please keep it to under 250 words), describing that child’s love of books and why they would benefit from the Kindle. I won’t publish the child’s last name, or an e-mail or physical address. I’ll take those stories (they may be edited to remove personal identifying information) and add them to this page with a “poll”.

I will automatically see an e-mail address when you post, but I will not publish it, and will use it only in conjunction with this program. If the child is selected for the Kindle, I will need a physical address to which to send the Kindle. It must be somewhere that Amazon.com will allow a Kindle to be sent.

A Kindle can be used without being registered to Amazon with free e-books which are available on the web. Registering the Kindle would be done through Amazon, and would follow their normal rules (this program is not connected with  Amazon: I am doing this as an individual). There are typically tens of thousands of books available for free through Amazon.

When you write the nominating story, be descriptive…another reason to do this is that these stories will inspire others to respect reading and readers.

To support a nomination

Update: the recommendation period for the first quarter of 2014 nominees is now over.

There will be a two  question poll on this page for each nominee. If you want to recommend that person for the Kindle, you’ll be able to indicate that by using the poll. You can support more than one person that way, if you like. The second “question” lets you simply congratulate the nominee for being a reader. You can do both for as many nominees as you like. You can choose both options for all of them: up to you. I think more recommendations and congratulations will be more encouraging to these and other kids.

While I know that many of my readers are generous people who would like to contribute, I won’t be taking any money from readers for this program. That would simply make things more complicated legally. I encourage my readers to support other programs, such as:

• Worldreader.org
• E-Books for Troops
• Library for All

Readers are also invited to add comments to this page which express support. Negative comments will not be posted.

This is not being done through a non-profit: there is no tax write-off involved (for me or others).

Readers can support the blog in general as they do now: by reading it; telling others about it; making comments; subscribing; and using links which occur within it.

Timeline

December 18 – December 31, 2013: comments can be made to this page, nominating children for the “Give a Kid a Kindle” program. Those stories will not appear until 2014

January 1 – February 28, 2014: stories will appear on this page about nominated children. Comments can be continue to be posted to nominated more children

March 1 – March 31, 2014: readers can recommend that a child get the Kindle. Additional comments nominating children can be made and posted during this time

After March 31, 2014: the child who gets the most recommendations will be sent a Kindle (if it’s a tie, the child will be selected randomly among the ones with the most nominations). A determination will be made at that point if we continue the program (circumstances can change). If we do, children who were not selected can have their stories continue to appear, but the poll counts will be reset (the recommendation counts from the first quarter of the year would not carry over into the second quarter). Our hope is to do this every quarter, but since it is personally funded, we’ll need to review the situation. We will also look at the general success of the program, including how it is received.

Nominees:

Note: nominating comments have been edited to remove names and some other information. The replacements will appear inside square brackets: [ ]. This is both to protect the nominee, and to make it based more on the situation than on inherent characteristics.

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[Nominee #1] is a ninth grade student who comes to class every day with a stack of books. [Nominee #1] seems to read very rapidly, perhaps a book a day, and [Nominee #1] checks out stacks of library books so that [Nominee #1] has enough to read. [Nominee #1] would benefit from a Kindle because [Nominee #1] could read free classics and not have to carry around a stack any longer!

[Nominee #2] is on [Nominee #2]’s way to being a lifelong reader and lover of literature. [Nominee #2] started reading at the age of 4 1/2 and has been reading for one year. In that time [Nominee #2] has advanced from “Dick and Jane” books to reading the “The Boxcar Children” on [Nominee #2]’s own. We read to [Nominee #2] daily and [Nominee #2] reads to us every night at bed time. [Nominee #2] has excelled and amazed us with [Nominee #2]’s love. Giving [Nominee #2] an e-ink Kindle would give [Nominee #2] more portable access to a library of fun children’s literature to encourage [Nominee #2]’s learning.

I was reluctant to write this post because while I think [Nominee #2] would benefit from this, even I think that Nominee #1 would benefit more than [Nominee #2] from this generous donation of literature.

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This page is part of the I Love My Kindle blog by Bufo Calvin, and originally appeared on that site.

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