Halloween is coming up next weekend, and some folks are thinking beyond trick-or-treating and costumes and coming up with new traditions. Last Saturday, author Neil Gaiman (Coraline, American Gods) posted a “Modest Proposal” for his fans on his blog.
Gaiman pointed out that there are too few holidays where people give each other books. With Halloween coming up this week, he suggested that his readers should give favorite scary books to their friends and family.
Since then, his post has inspired a number of responses from Monica Edinger on Huffington Post, Kat Howard of Strange Ink, and Book-or-Treat. Among the responses is the Facebook group “Neil Gaiman’s A Modest Proposal (No Cannibalism Involved).” The group encourages people to donate to First Book, a non-profit organization that gives new books to at-risk youth. In their almost 20 years of work, First Book has delivered over 70 million books to children all over the United States and Canada, and for only $2, donors can send a book to a child in need.
To read Neil Gaiman’s “Modest Proposal,” go to http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2010/10/modest-proposal-that-doesnt-actually.html. You can make a difference this Halloween by joining the Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=170568142956792 and donating to First Book at https://www.firstbook.org/site/c.lwKYJ8NVJvF/b.1043569/k.924D/Donation_Form/apps/ka/sd/donor.asp?c=lwKYJ8NVJvF&b=1043569&en=6fJBKLNnE5LKIVPqE4IHISPBIpITITNrHaJPIVNrGcKILXPMH.
