United Way of Asheville and Buncombe County Holiday Book Drive

United Way of Asheville and Buncombe County Holiday Book Drive

Many local organizations that distribute holiday gifts find that middle school youth often fall off the radar when people are making their donations. There are many reasons, but one is that this age can sometimes be a little harder to shop for. For the sixth year, United Way's Women United, with help from our volunteer center Hands On Asheville-Buncombe, will collect books for middle school youth and get them to programs serving kids in need. Companies, faith communities and neighborhood groups often find this is a great way to promote volunteerism around the holidays and to make an impact in the life of a middle schooler. Let us know and we'll send you a poster to get your co-workers, friends and family members involved.

Shop at Barnes & Noble Asheville and Support Students in Buncombe County

Starting November 1st and running through December 31st, Barnes & Noble Booksellers at the Asheville Mall is hosting a book drive so customers can easily donate books to local middle school youth. It's such a simple and needed way to support local students. You can simply purchase the books while doing your holiday shopping, leave them with your cashier at check-out, then we will collect the books at the end of the month and distribute them to commmunity partners and students throughout Asheville and Buncombe County.

You can also drop off new, unwrapped books at our office located on 50 South French Broad Avenue in Asheville. If you do, please drop them off by December 11 so we can wrap them up for distribution. If you have questions, please contact michelle.bennett@unitedwayabc.org or call (828) 239-1033.

Can't make it out to shop? Donate here and we'll do the footwork for you.

 

Agencies and Schools Helping to Distribute Books 

United Way is partnering with a number of organizations to get these books into the hands of local students.  

Big Brothers Big Sisters
Enka Middle School
Erwin Middle School
Owen Middle School
North Buncombe Middle School
Montford North Star Academy
Reynolds Middle School
Delta House
YMCA of WNC
My Daddy Taught Me That
My Sistah Taught Me That
 
 
Reach Out and Read Carolinas
Read2Succeed
Madison County Book Mobile
 

Books The Kids Are Reading...

Your Barnes & Noble Booksellers will be happy to help you pick a great book but we also asked local educators to tell us which books kids (of all reading levels) like to read - here are a few. 

  • A Song for Bijou
  • A Wrinkle in Time
  • American Panda
  • Between Shades of Gray
  • Bone Series
  • Bruised
  • Bud, Not Buddy
  • Call it Courage
  • Cirque de Freak
  • Clean
  • Cracker
  • Darius the Great is Not Okay
  • Divergent Series
  • Dork Diaries
  • Dread Nation
  • Dr. Seuss Books (in audiobooks for ESL students)
  • Ettiquette & Espionage series (AKA The Finishing School series)
  • Everything, Everything
  • Feed
  • Football Genius Series
  • From Salt to Sea
  • Girl in Pieces
  • Girl, Stolen
  • Hatchet
  • Heroes of Olympus
  • Highly Illogical Behavior
  • History is All You Left Me
  • Holes
  • Hunger Games Trilogy
  • Ink Heart Books
  • Kane Chronicles series
  • Kira Kira
  • Leah on the Off Beat
  • Legend series
  • Lockdown  
  • Lunar Chronicles (series)
  • Maniac Magee
  • Matched Trilogy
  • Maze Runner
  • Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children series
  • North by Night
  • Number the Stars 
  • Okay for Now
  • Out of My Mind
  • Percy Jackson Series
  • Pete the Cat Series (in audiobooks for ESL students)
  • Pigeon Series (in audiobooks for ESL students)
  • Prisoner B3087
  • Randi Rhodes, Ninja
  • Redwall Series
  • Reign of the Fallen
  • Save the Date
  • Serafina Series
  • Sounder
  • The Boy in Striped Pajamas
  • The Bronze Bow
  • The Fault in Our Stars
  • The Great Green Heist
  • The Maze Runner Series
  • The Mighty Miss Malone  
  • The Outsiders
  • The Astonishing Color of After
  • The Dangerous Art of Being In
  • The Series of Unfortunate Events
  • To Kill a Kingdom
  • To Kill a Mockingbird
  • Touching Spirit Bear
  • Warm Bodies
  • Warriors Don’t Cry
  • Watsons Go To Birmingham
  • We Beat the Streets
  • Wicked Deep
  • Wimpy Kid Series
  • Any Book By: Ally Condie, Christopher Paul Curtis, Sarah Dessen, Sharon Draper, John Green, S.E. Hinton, Lois Lowry, Mike Lupica, Walter Dean Myers
     
  • And finally, we could really use non-English language versions of these books for students who are transitioning to English from their native languages of Spanish, Ukrainian, Marshallese and Pompei. Having books in their native language helps ease the transition to learning English and helps ensure that they don't lose a love of reading during that difficult time.

Big Thanks to This Year's Sponsors:

Women United is proud to be sponsored by the great team at Webb Investment Services.

This year's Holiday Book Drive also would not be possible without Capstone Health Alliance.

Thank you to both of our major sponsors, without which this would not be possible.

How You Can Live United, Year-Round: