Book drive aims to promote inclusion

The School of Education’s Office of Child Development is hosting its second annual book drive to serve children up to age 8 in Pittsburgh and the surrounding areas. 

Last year, in response to the Tree of Life tragedy, the office delivered 3,000 books across the region to help children process fear and embrace diversity. 

“The support we received for last year’s book drive was remarkable,” Shannon Wanless, director of the Office of Child Development, told @Pitt. “This year, we want to build on that momentum with ‘Books for Change’ — using picture books to promote equity in all its forms.” 

The books range from “Don’t call me special: A First Look at Disability” to “All I Want To Be Is Me,” about gender issues; “All of the Colors We Are,” focusing on race; “Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and her Family’s Fight for Desegregation” and “When Sadness is At Your Door,” about mental wellness. Find the full book list online.

The book drive officially kicks off from 3 to 5 p.m. Oct. 5 in Schenley Plaza. The public event will feature storytelling books from the drive’s book list in multiple languages with teachers from the Falk Laboratory School, a table to learn the basics of Braille with the Vision Studies program, bookmarks to color and much more. 

If you can’t make it to the kickoff event, you can purchase one of the books and send it to the Office of Child Development or you can donate money to the cause.