Mascot Books Amazon bring books to Northshore Students

Thursday morning an Amazon truck delivered 16,872 books donated by Mascot Publishing.  These books, written by independent authors from across the country represent diverse perspectives and topics and will provide our students with the opportunity to experience those.  Thanks to the generosity of Amazon and Mascot Books these books are arriving in Northshore for free.

“Getting books into students’ hands in a dark period brings light and joy and allows them to travel, develop empathy and connect with other in a way that is safe and healthy.” Said Sandy Hayes Northshore Schools Foundation’s Mobile Book Program coordinator who also happens to be a member of the Northshore School Board.  “We are incredibly grateful to our community, and our partners Amazon, Mascot Books and Civin Publishing Services for making this possible.”

During this holiday break, more than 125 titles will be read and reviewed by Northshore’s librarian staff who are volunteering their time to assess the content and reading level of each book.  Once evaluated, books will be distributed to school libraries, made available for teachers to add to their classroom libraries, and added to the Mobile Book Program which gives books for Northshore students. This donation will provide much needed books to students who are requesting them in their homes, and provide an important refresh to school and classroom libraries.

“The combination of the joy of giving and the love of creating books made this donation a highlight for me. Having the ability to connect need and desire made it a perfect partnership between Northshore Schools Foundation, Mascot Books and Civin Media Relations. My father’s motto was Today’s Readers are Tomorrow’s Leaders and I like to think that the three organizations were able to create thousands of future leaders through this opportunity,” said Todd Civin, owner of Civin Publishing.

The Foundation’ Mobile Book Program has already distributed more than 17,400 books to local students, and the demand remains high.  When Beca Nistrian the owner and operator of Beca’s Brew, and author of “A Cup of Kindness” heard of the need, she reached out to her publisher, Civin Publishing Services to see if they could help. Mascot Books had recently identified a surplus of books that needed to get to students, and Todd Civin made the connection and reached out to the Northshore Schools Foundation.  

“It was almost unbelievable to receive an email from Todd asking if we could use several thousand books,” said Carmin Dalziel, director of the Northshore Schools Foundation.  “It was an exciting offer but we couldn’t figure out how to get them from there to here, until Guy Palumbo and Amazon stepped in.”

“Making sure our children have the ability to keep reading and learning is one of the most important things we can collectively do during these difficult times,” said Palumbo, director of Amazon Public Policy. “Amazon is thankful that we can help the students of the Northshore School District. We hope the books in this delivery can help them escape to a world of enrichment – something that is important now more than ever.”

Amazon covered the entire cost of delivery for over 2800 miles added another stop in Chicago on the way to deliver books to another organization. 

“This gift of books is truly the result of collaboration and community good will.  Thanks to the help of Mascot, Todd, Becca, Amazon and the Northshore School District, students will have a bunch of new books to read come January.  We are so grateful,” Dalziel said.