SUMMER
THANK YOU FOR JOINING US FOR OUR FIRST EVER DURHAM GIRLS SUMMER BOOK CLUB!
When schools closed in March 2020 due to the pandemic, it became increasingly clear to us girls in our program felt isolated, anxious and frustrated. One of our amazing youth representatives wondered if a book club might be helpful. So we picked a book as a trial for one of the groups and WOW. Girls who had been largely quiet since March began reaching out to let us know they got the book, some as soon as the Amazon delivery person had left the driveway! We knew we were on to something and a community-wide summer book club was born.
We decided that it was vitally important to us for us to make books accessible for everyone, so to that end we felt like the Durham Public Schools (DPS) food distribution sites would be a great place for interested girls to pick up books. Sites are scattered around towns at public schools as well as some apartment complexes. We reviewed many books, narrowed it to 3 and our journey began.
If you are reading this, then odds are you have a book in hand OR you're wondering how to get one and how to join in the book club discussion. This is a new experience for us, so we hope you will bear with us if we have some hiccups. We also hope you will give us feedback along the way. When fall comes, we should know if this effort is one that bears repeating. If so, it is your input that will make it better.
Here is some information we hope will be helpful:
WHO IS PARTCIPATING?:
Girls who will be in the 5th-8th grade in the fall, love reading and think it would be fun to read books this summer alongside Durham friends, old and new.
HOW CAN I PLAN TO GET A BOOK?:
To reserve a book, please email us your name and the pickup location (see below) that works best for you. When the books arrive, we will email you to let you know when we'll be delivering the books to the food sites. We will have a book at the site of your choice with your name on it.
OR just drop in to a food distribution site and grab a book on a first come, first serve basis. All books are free! And we are ordering as many as we can! This page will be updated regularly when books are brought to the sites for distribution.
WHERE DO WE PICK UP A BOOK?:
Here are the list of DPS food distribution locations in Durham, NC.
Schools:
Bethesda Elementary School
2009 S. Miami Blvd Durham NC 27703
Monday and Thursday 11am-12:30pm
Burton Elementary School
1500 Mathison St Durham NC 27701
Monday and Thursday 12-1:30pm
C. C. Spaulding Elementary School
1531 S. Roxboro St Durham NC 27707
Tuesday and Friday 11am-12:30pm
Club Blvd Elementary School
400 W Club Blvd Durham NC 27704
Tuesday and Friday 12-1:30pm
Lakewood Montessori Middle School
2119 Chapel Hill Rd Durham NC 27707
Tuesday and Friday 12-1:30pm
Maureen Joy Charter School
107 S Driver St Durham, NC 27703
Tuesday and Friday 12-1:30pm
Sandy Ridge Elementary School
1417 Old Oxford Rd Durham NC 27704
Monday and Thursday 11am-12:30pm
Y.E. Smith Elementary School
2410 E. Main St Durham NC 27703
Tuesday and Friday 11am-12:30pm
Apartments:
Colonial Apartments
29920 Chapel Hill Rd Durham NC 27707
(Main Office - Residents Only)
Duke Manor Apartments
311 S. Lasalle St
(Main Office - Residents Only)
Independence Park Apartments
215 William Penn Plaza Durham NC 27704
(Main Office - Residents Only)
Colony Manor Apartments
2905 Rochelle St
(No Office - Books Delivered by Residents)
WHEN DO I PICK UP THE BOOKS?:
Ideally we would love to have everyone pick up all 3 books at once. It would easier for us and you. But this first year, funding prohibited us from ordering everything at the same time. So this summer, we will have 3 book deliveries, one in June, one in July and one in August. As we receive books for each month, you can come here to see when books are being delivered to the food distribution sites or we will email you directly if you've reserved a book.
***Please note the days and hours for each food distribution site listed above.
DELIVERY UPDATES:
QUEEN BEE AND ME by Gillian McDunn
7/3 Books DELIVERED to:
Lakewood Montessori Middle School
7/6 Books DELIVERED to:
Bethesda Elementary School
Sandy Ridge Elementary School
Burton Elementary School
Colonial Apartments Office (for Residents Only)
Duke Manor Apartments Office (for Residents Only)
Independence Park Apartments Office (for Residents Only)
Colony Manor Apartments (for Residents Only)
7/7 Books DELIVERED to:
C.C. Spaulding Elementary School
Club Blvd Elementary School
Maureen Joy Charter School
Y.E. Smith Elementary School
HOW DO I DISCUSS THE BOOK WITH OTHER DURHAM GIRLS?:
When choosing a discussion platform, there was no perfect answer. We weighed safety, accessibility and functionality and landed on an application called SLACK. Click the link below and enter an email address. After that,
you'll be directed to the book club discussion page. The SLACK app can also easily be downloaded on a phone.
WHAT ARE WE READING THIS SUMMER?:
And now for the best part! What are we reading this summer? Here's a list of the books. A few special things to note. Authors Lulu Delacre and Gillian McDunn will be joining our discussions in June and July (how cool is that?!). And a special shoutout to author Sharon Flake who rallied the troops to raise enough money to fund an additional 250 copies of her book! W.O.W. All authors have provided us with reading guides to make our discussions even more fun! We hope you enjoy these amazing stories of resilience and growth!
JUNE 2020
JULY 2020
AUGUST 2020
WHAT IS THE BOOK CLUB DISCUSSION SCHEDULE?
JUNE 15-19 GIRLS RECEIVE COPIES OF US, IN PROGRESS: SHORT STORIES ABOUT YOUNG LATINOS BY LULU DELACRE
JUNE 29-JULY 2 SLACK DISCUSSION (LULU DELACRE TO JOIN)
JULY 6-10 GIRLS RECEIVE COPIES OF THE QUEEN BEE AND ME BY GILLIAN MCDUNN
JULY 21-24 SLACK DISCUSSION (GILLIAN MCDUNN TO JOIN)
JULY 27-31 GIRLS RECEIVE COPIES OF THE SKIN I'M IN BY SHARON FLAKE
AUGUST 11-14 SLACK DISCUSSION
WHAT DO I DO IF I HAVE A PROBLEM?
Email us and we will do all we can to help.
HOW CAN I GIVE FEEDBACK ABOUT THE BOOK CLUB?:
Email us with your feedback. We are especially interested in how the book pickup process is working, as well as the SLACK discussion platform. This is our first go at this and we suspect we'll have plenty of opportunities to make it better, but fingers crossed, our shortcomings will be outweighed by the great outcomes of connecting Durham girls through the power of books.
HOW CAN WE DONATE FUNDS TO BUY MORE BOOKS?:
WHAT'S THE WORD ON THE STREET ABOUT OUR BOOK CLUB?:
StrongHER TogetHER is lucky to have great partners in Durham. Here's a blog post from our amazing friends at Book Harvest.
WHAT IS OUR PROGRAM, STRONGHER TOGETHER, ALL ABOUT?
StrongHER TogetHER is teaching girls to stick together...no matter how different they are.
To learn more about our MISSION, click here.
To learn more about how to GET INVOLVED, click here.
Thank you for being a part of our first ever community-wide event! We are excited to meet you and hope we'll find more ways to connect in the years to come! Thank you for your support! And happy reading!