I was given the great gift and privilege of being the recipient of the donations for a book drive in memory of my dear friend Sandi’s daughter, Brooke. Monetary donations from all over the country allowed me to purchase nearly $1000 worth of new books for my classroom. In addition, Sandi’s sister-in-law, Marlise, organized a used book drop-off at her house, which resulted in boxes and boxes of books for my school.

Buying books, especially children’s books, is possibly the only type of shopping I enjoy. Buying books with these donations was joy tinged with sadness because of why the book drive exists. I never got to meet Brooke, but I had long chats with Sandi about her dancing, and her homework, and especially about her love of reading. I had the pleasure of recommending books both for Brooke and her brother, Blake. I have since had the joy of becoming friends with Blake — a super fun guy who plays Exploding Kittens with me and Bowie on his guitar — and his baby sister Leah, who is a spitfire and a total dish and she knows it. I’ve got some books in mind for her, too.

Because Brooke was kind, and because Brooke loved to read, her friends came up with the idea of a book drive. Last year the books went to a school on a Navaho reservation, this year they came to me. I plan to work with Sandi to continue Brooke’s legacy of kindness and generosity, so you’ll be hearing more about Brooke’s Books in the future, but for now, I’d like to share a very small glimpse of what Brooke’s Books looked like this year.

Many, many thanks to all who donated. Special thanks to friends who donated because though they didn’t know Sandi and her family they were moved by their story.

And to those of you who have never read the Interrupting Chicken books, I am very sorry for you. My class thinks they are hilarious.