Excerpted from Irvine Community News and Views
State Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris and her Orange County staff hosted a holiday book drive to help spotlight the importance of education, literacy, and supporting local authors.
One of the local authors who participated, Jessica Patrick is a high school librarian.
The Petrie-Norris team knows how important books can be. They can expand your mind and take you on adventures you never dreamed possible. Being stuck at home for most of the past year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s never been a better time to escape in a book.
The goal of the book drive was to collect and distribute meaningful books that can become treasured items for the individuals who receive them.
Delivering Holiday Book Drive Donations
For the project, the Assemblywoman’s team partnered with 46 well-known authors — including New York Times bestselling author Marieke Nijkamp, Washington Post “Book of the Year” winner Minh Lê, Marvel writer Preeti Chhibber, and National Book Award finalist Traci Chee.
The authors signed books that were dropped off at these local nonprofits:
- Families Forward
- Save Our Youth (SOY)
- Share Our Selves (SOS)
- Children’s Hospital Orange County (CHOC)
- Stand Up for Kids
Irvine resident and author, Julie Abe said, “Being an Orange County author, this book drive is particularly meaningful to me as it makes books more accessible to the local community that I love so much. It’s inspiring to see books in the hands of young readers!”