Books

1:4:1000 Book Drive Update – Letting go of Old Friends

by Myra Garces-Bacsal
Comments 5

Since I am currently visiting in the Philippines, I had the chance to collect some books from friends who believe and support our vision of bringing books to the schools in Samar. Fairly recently, we have received something so precious from a very good friend of mine, a soul sister to be exact. Elena Y. Flores has let go of 170 of her old friends, her now-considered-vintage collection of Sweet Valley High and Sweet Dreams books. Here are the photos of the lovely titles. Seeing the pictures she has taken (they are now boxed and ready for shipping in the next few days) reminded me of my teenage years when Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield are very real to me. And who can forget P.S. I Love You that made me cry buckets of tears. We had no GLEE at the time, no High School Musical, no Camp Rock, but these are our precious friends. I can not thank you enough Missy for sharing this with us. I am humbled by the generosity of your soul.

My heart broke as I saw this spread of books – I remember each one of them vividly, particularly the Sweet Valley High chronicles. Thank you for your love Missy. Let us hope that they would be as treasured and cherished by the children who will be receiving them soon.

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About Myra Garces-Bacsal

Myra is a Teacher Educator and a registered clinical psychologist based in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates. Prior to moving to the Middle East, she lived for eleven years in Singapore serving as a teacher educator. She has edited five books on rediscovering children’s literature in Asia (with a focus on the Philippines, Malaysia, India, China, Japan) as part of the proceedings for the Asian Festival of Children’s Content where she served as the Chair of the Programme Committee for the Asian Children’s Writers and Illustrators Conference from 2011 until 2019. While she is an academic by day, she is a closet poet and a book hunter at heart. When she is not reading or writing about books or planning her next reads, she is hoping desperately to smash that shuttlecock to smithereens because Badminton Is Life (still looking for badminton courts here at UAE - suggestions are most welcome).

www.gatheringbooks.org

5 comments on “1:4:1000 Book Drive Update – Letting go of Old Friends”

  1. blackplume
    June 29, 2011

    those books are more than vintage. How generous that she is letting go all of them.

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  2. leezah
    June 29, 2011

    paul strobe of sweet dreams book#1!!! how i scrambled to have that book when i was young!! this was before amazon.com was even a dream!!

    …and she also had that “star struck” sweet dreams book of the michael jackson music video plot!!! classic, vintage, priceless!!!

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    • myragarcesbacsal
      June 29, 2011

      Hi Leezah, yup. I know i know. My heart, be still, when I saw the pictures. I’ve been telling her to reconsider since I believe we have reached the 1000 mark anyway. I hope I can convince her to hold on to the books just a wee bit longer. And if she really wants to, she can always give it next year for our Year 2 Anniversary.

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  3. Pingback: Saying Goodbye to the First Half of the Year, Our June Round-Up |

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