Founder of nonprofit BookSmiles has shared over 2 million books with local children
Larry Abrams graduated from the College of Education’s Supervisor program in 2008, and has since gone on to found a remarkable nonprofit, BookSmiles. Here, he shares the story of how it came to be , how his experience at Rowan influenced him, and how he hopes for the nonprofit to evolve in the future.
Larry Abrams graduated from Rowan in 2008 with a supervisor certificate and set out initially to become a school district superintendent. When he began his teaching career, however, he would make a realization that would lead him to foster change in his community and around the world.
“BookSmiles really comes from me being a teacher who worked in two very different school systems. One was Moorestown High School, and the other one was Lindenwold High School. In Moorestown, all the kids were exceptional. They had great reading scores. Most of them were headed for four-year colleges. That was the reality.
I quickly determined that book access from the youngest years, from infancy, that’s the way that we could change things.
Then coming to Lindenwold, I encountered a very different bunch of kids. My ninth graders, for example, had fourth and fifth grade reading levels. I quickly determined that book access from the youngest years, from infancy, that’s the way that we could change things. And so I sought to give Lindenwold kids all of the books that Moorestown Kids had, and now here we are, 2 million books later. 2 million books repurposed, upcycled, books that would have been headed into the trash or to the landfill. They are now in the hands and homes of children who really need them.”
While the initial plan was to keep the program in Lindenwold, Larry’s idea quickly caught the eye of several teachers and others at a New Jersey Teachers’ Convention, who were eager to play a role in the organization’s expansion: “The teachers carried a lot of that and we had invested no money whatsoever in advertising. We were very, very grassroots. But once we started getting significant financial donations, that’s when we really started to expand. Then I could think about moving out of my classroom where I stored a lot of these books, moving out of my garage where I had a lot of books. But I thought, okay, with these significant financial donations, I’ll be able to rent space for a book bank. And although I never received any kind of salary [for Booksmiles] while I was a teacher, I was able to hire somebody part time. And so when people saw what we were doing and started throwing their money down, getting behind this concept of upcycling general use children’s books and giving them to kids in need, that’s what made it happen. You cannot run a nonprofit without any kind of income stream, you’ll go out of business in a minute. So that’s one of my priorities as an executive director, to make sure that we’re sound financially, that way people really feel good giving to this amazing cause, giving book access to all children.”
After a fantastic start and continued success, Larry has an optimistic vision for the future: “The next step is to get this current book bank, 4300 square feet in Pennsauken, New Jersey, to 100% capacity. That means we have to take in, source, and distribute between 80,000 and 100,000 books each month. That’s a million books per year. We’re knocking on the door. We’re going to get there. We’re averaging around 60,000 right now. But when we get to 100% capacity, that’s going to be time to expand into Philadelphia and build our big book bank in Philadelphia twice this size. It may also mean serving teachers in North Jersey by building a book bank up there to help kids in Paterson and Newark, you know, North Jersey is just enormous. And there is a huge need for children’s books there. That’s the five year plan.”
Regarding his experience at Rowan, Larry had kind words to say about a gone, but not forgotten, member of the Rowan community: “In my education program for my supervisor certificate, I had a professor who was transformational, Bob Campbell, who I believe was Superintendent in Pitman for a while and has since passed away. This man was incredible. He encouraged me, he said, ‘Larry, you may one day want to become a superintendent like me.’ So encouraging. We really didn’t write a whole lot of papers in his class. What we did is we would just listen to this very wise man give real world accounts of being a better educator. We did a lot of interactive stuff, a lot of role playing, and it was a transformative class. But yeah, give it up for Bob Campbell. Had I not taken the supervisor certificate, especially with Bob Campbell, I wouldn’t have been thinking about how to affect change on a greater level other than my classroom, you know? I can think like a supervisor and that’s what kind of got me out of my classroom bubble. That is the truth.”
Had I not taken the supervisor certificate, especially with Bob Campbell, I wouldn’t have been thinking about how to affect change on a greater level other than my classroom.
In closing, Larry has a few pieces of advice for any Profs looking to get into the education programs at Rowan. “My big advice is this: teaching is one of the hardest jobs out there. And I’ve had a few other careers in my lifetime, and teaching by far is the hardest one, but it is also the most gratifying one. And I loved it. Teaching is the fountain of youth if you let it be. I grew older in this profession and I was able to get the kids on my side. And if you just get the kids on your side, the parents will be on your side. You know, avoid negativity. And this can be an incredibly gratifying and rewarding career. And you get your summers off and we teachers need that. I mean, we really need it to just regroup because teaching is exhausting, but it’s equally gratifying and invigorating.”
Larry also graciously invites any students going into education to visit BookSmiles! “Everyone who is graduating from the Rowan education program, make sure that you make it to BookSmiles. We teachers should not have to pay crazy amounts of money for classroom libraries. Simply get onto our website, a $25 nominal donation will give you access for the entire school year and you can come here as much as you want to take as many books as you want. We want you to give them away to kids in need, but I do not mind at all if you use our resources to help you build a classroom library.”
Story and interview by Connor Bicknell, senior communication studies major
Photos: Valentina Giannattasio and Joshua Bradley