One of the many amazing things about being a book fairy is seeing the impact, big or small, in the communities where we hid books! Our book fairy in New Zealand would love to share one such incredible story of creating a ripple of inspiration and change.
VISIT TO a local kindergarten in Auckland
As a book fairy, we rarely know how far the books we leave behind travel. There are times when, out of curiosity, we sit in the bushes waiting to see who picked up the book. Seeing that smile spread across a finder’s face keeps us going. Then, there are the random tags we get on social media when people let us know that a book has been found. Not many know it, but these little things make our fairy hearts skip a beat. It makes us do a little dance of joy, even. There are those rare events when we can find out just how much impact our campaigns make.
This is the story for one of those precious times. In June 2017, Book Fairies New Zealand did a book drop campaign for the shortlisted books for New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. Our very supportive friends from the publishing industry gave us several copies of their finalist books. This didn’t just allow us to extend the book drop campaign to two weeks, but we were also able to donate books to select places. We packed up two boxes of books that headed off to community libraries and a third box was meant for a local kindergarten in Auckland. When I talked to the kindergarten, they were really interested to find out more about the Book Fairies, so I volunteered to do a short talk about what we do and the importance of book sharing.
It was such a fun event getting to share the love of books with the kids. The lovely people of Northcote Central Kindergarten were handed 7 book fairy-sticker books at the end of the activity.
THE TRADE TABLE!
It has been six months since that event. Yesterday, I got an opportunity to visit the kindergarten where the donation was made. It was so amazing to see a trade table out in front! It was inspired by the Book Fairy activity and encouraged other families to share their old books, fruits and veggies or other things that they can share with the other children in class. It feels great to know that sometimes, we don’t just make one person happy when they find a book. We actually create a ripple effect of good deeds and sharing.
Want to join in the Book Fairy fun?
Head down to our shop and get your stickers, as well as other Book Fairy goodies!