Better World Books: Buy a Book, Help Save the World

Better World Books is a book-shopping website…with a twist.

Here’s some info I received about them:

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“Goodnight Moon” saving the world? Do-gooder online bookseller supports literacy and the environment

For years, “do-gooder” moms and book lovers have shopped Better World Books for its big discounts and even bigger impact on the environment and literacy.

And now the company has some seriously good news to share.

But first – for those who don’t already know – here’s how it works.

Better World Books collects discarded books from libraries and campuses around the country, and sells them on BetterWorldBooks.com. For every book they sell, a cut of the money goes back to the library or campus it came from, and another goes to non-profit literacy organizations like Books for Africa.

Consider the fact that they sell millions of books every year – and those dollars start to add up.

Since its launch in 2003, Better World Books has raised millions for libraries and literacy – and in a few days, it will hit the TEN MILLION dollar mark! They’ve even got a cute ticker on the homepage “counting up” to $10 million…looks like it’s just a few days away.

That huge pile of cash is in addition to Better World Books’ contribution to the environment – the company’s business model has helped divert over 40 million books from landfills!

To celebrate its big milestone, the company is planning an exciting announcement on August 15. Check http://www.betterworldbooks.com/ then to find out what it is!

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I checked out their site, and it’s a very cool concept. You can definitely buy children’s books, but they also sell textbooks, and lots of fiction and nonfiction for us gals. You can find my recently-recommended “The Help” under Beach Reads, and they also have a section for “Big Screen” adaptations (e.g. “Water For Elephants”, another of my favourites). Their categories are even helpfully subdivided, so when you click on “Parenting, Family and Relationships”, you can then choose more specific topics like Adoption, Baby Names, Toilet Training ,etc. (My recommendation to the site: you need a “Sleep” subcategory!)

When you click on a title, you are given options of what condition you want to buy the book in (Used Very Good, Used Good, Used Acceptable), with corresponding prices. Most of the novels I checked out were in the $7 – 8 range.

You can also shop their 5 for $30 bargain bin!

Right now, the collections are based on Georgia and Indiana, with the goal of expanding to new states. They aren’t collecting in Canada (yet). However, they offer FREE worldwide shipping.

Take a look: http://www.betterworldbooks.com/. I think it would be neat to explain this concept to older kids, and have them choose some books themselves. By the time of this post, hopefully Better World Books will have hit the $10 million mark…and on August 15th you can find out the details of their big announcement!