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metro >> on the cover
Buy Books!
Presented by
Bookstock bargains help
area literacy programs.
"MAGNIFICENT!"
Jaime Christley,
SLANT MAGAZINE
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Shari S. Cohen
Special to the Jewish News
N
ow in its 11th year, Bookstock
is a used book sale, but
much more. It's an event that
expands every year in sales volume,
volunteer participation and its impact
on literacy programs.
Bookstock has raised more than
$800,000 for educational programs
in Metro Detroit since the Jewish
Community Relations Council took
over the Brandeis book sale and began
Bookstock under the volunteer leader-
ship of Jodi Goodman and Roz Blanck.
This year, Bookstock will offer more
than 100,000 donated items — used
books, DVDs, CDs, audiobooks, maga-
zines and records from April 21-28 (see
Shopper's Guide below) at Laurel Park
Place in Livonia.
Sponsors include the Oakland County
Literacy Council, Detroit Jewish News,
Schostak Brothers and Company, the
Jewish Community Relations Council,
and 10 Jewish communal nonprofit
organizations that support education
and literacy programs in the Detroit
area. Each nonprofit provides volun-
teers for Bookstock and is allocated a
percentage of sale proceeds for materi-
als for their literacy programs, class-
room libraries and school supplies for
homeless children.
"Bookstock started as something
small, but it's become a destination
now, said Karen Simmons. "Every year,
we try to make the sale more relevant
and reach more people:' Simmons is a
co-chair with Janet Berman and Susi
Schoenberger; Linda Gershel is associ-
ate co-chair. Neil Rubin of the Detroit
News and Rochelle Riley of the Detroit
Free Press are active honorary chairs
who publicize Bookstock in their news-
paper columns and at public events.
Several outreach programs have been
added during the last several years to
benefit students directly. The Bookstock
Scholar Awards, in partnership with
Wallside Windows and Gardner White,
are presented to outstanding students
at Wayne State University's School
of Library Science and Information
Technology. The Bookstock Fund assists
Detroit's Amelia Earhart Elementary
School, last year providing $5,000 for
bilingual materials for students who are
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8 April 18 • 2013
Students at Amelia Earhart Elementary School in Detroit hold
Bookstock bookmarks. Last year the Bookstock Fund provided
$5,000 for bilingual materials for students who are learning English
as a second language.
learning English as a second language.
This year, Bookstock has added
the BEST (Bookstock Extra Special
Teacher) Awards, an essay competition
that will reward five students, their
teachers and schools with cash prizes.
So far, 73 fourth-graders have submit-
ted entries describing how "My Teacher
Makes Reading Special for Me:'
According to Berman, a retired
teacher who has served as a Bookstock
co-chair for several years, 2013 dona-
tions have increased by up to 4,000
items. Social media is helping to publi-
cize special sales events. An announce-
ment of the first Teacher Appreciation
Night is "creating quite a buzz on
Facebook, and a posting about the
raffle prize of a signed Red Wing jersey
was seen by more than 2,000 people
Berman said. "The jersey has been
signed by the whole team so that it will
be valuable:'
Sorting and organizing massive
quantities of donated materials is a
challenging volunteer function at the
Bookstock depot, located at the Jewish
Community Center in West Bloomfield.
According to depot chair Sheri Schiff,
300 individuals have worked there to
date, some on a weekly basis. More
than 700 volunteers will work at the
depot and at the Laurel Park Place sale.
Since Bookstock's inception, the
Oakland Literacy Council has provided
volunteers to staff Bookstock on Friday
evenings and Saturdays so that the sale
can be open to the public on the Jewish
Sabbath. "There is a real sense of com-
munity with the different organizations
coming together for a single purpose
said Pat Peck, the Literacy Council's
Bookstock coordinator.
Bookstock offers a broad range of
print and multimedia materials for
adults and children, organized by
categories (fiction, cookbooks, biog-
raphies, etc.) and type of media. The
least expensive items are magazines
and children's VHS tapes and the most
expensive are coffee table books and
encyclopedia sets. Recent hardcover
books are priced at $4.
Some buyers are collectors search-
ing for a particular author's books and
may spend hundreds of dollars. Visiting
Bookstock is an annual activity for
many bargain hunters, and the Laurel
Park Place merchants look forward to
the additional traffic in the mall.
Despite the large number of shop-
pers, some books and other items
always remain unsold, but even these
materials end up promoting literacy.
When Bookstock ends, nonprofit orga-
nizations, such as the Vista Maria Head
Start program and the Salvation Army,
are invited to visit Laurel Park Place
and take any remaining items at no
cost for their clients or students. One
Detroit school selected a large number
of books to set up a school library.
Bookstock is literary recycling at its
best.
❑
Shoppers' Guide To Bookstock
From Barney videotapes for a quarter to entire encyclopedia sets,
Bookstock offers something for all ages to read, watch or play. The sale
runs April 21-28 at Laurel Park Place in Livonia (Six Mile Road, west of
1-275) General hours are 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sundays, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-
Saturday. Free. Visit www.bookstock.info for a site map. Special sales
events include:
• Pre-Sale, Sunday, April 21, 8:15-11 a.m.. Larry Callahan and the Selected
of God Choir (from the Chrysler Super Bowl commercial) will perform. $20.
• Teacher Appreciation Day, Tuesday, April 23, 3-9 p.m. Teachers with ID
receive a 50 percent discount.
• Bookbuster Sales, Wednesday-Thursday, April 24-25, 3-9 p.m. Buy
three items and get the fourth, least expensive item free. Shoppers who
spend $25 or more will be entered in a raffle for a Red Wings jersey signed
by the 2011-12 team.
• Closing Day, Sunday, April 28,10 a.m.-9 p.m. Half off all books and
media.