NEWARK — If COVID-19 has you doing a little spring cleaning, a Newark High School student is interested in your children’s books.
Andrea Malach, 14, is on her last push to hopefully collect about 1,000 gently used books for the African Library Project, which aims to promote literacy in small rural villages by establishing local libraries. The books will be used by primary school students in Malawi, Africa.
Malach came up with the idea after reading the book “Quiet,” in which the non-profit’s work was mentioned, and got started in earnest this spring. She hopes to collect between 600 and 700 books for students in grades 1-4 and 300 to 400 for those in fifth through eighth grades.
Currently, she estimates she has somewhere between 200 and 300 books, including about 100 that were donated by the Newark and Geneva public libraries. June 12 is her deadline to receive book donations. She has publicized her drive through Facebook, messaging friends and in a local newspaper story.
Malach also is soliciting donations for shipping costs; one donor has already pledged $250, half of the $500 she is seeking.
It’s no surprise Malach is an avid reader who can’t imagine a world without books. Her mother, Michelle, surmises she’s read the Harry Potter series three times. Mary Pope Osborne and Erin Hunter are other favorite authors and currently the ninth-grader is reading F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” for pleasure (not a school assignment).
“I tend to skip around in the books I’m reading,” Malach said.
In a press release, the teen said she hopes that somehow the books may help create resources in these communities and foster creative thinking.
And she’s enjoyed the project thus far, “knowing it will bring good to some children’s lives in Africa.”
