Over 250 books are on their way to the Children’s Institute, and over $1500 has been raised for the Rockhouse Foundation in just two days. But that’s from only about eighty people. Did you decide you’d wait while you think about it? What is there to think about? Kids. Books. Done.

Please?

Oh, wait. Were you waiting for some kind of prize?

Okay. Here’s the first one, and it’s pretty awesome.

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Sweet Schuyler, how are you already eight?

Everybody’s really proud of your dad for his memoir that came out today. I remember when you were first born, I sent you a toy that was later recalled. Sorry about that. See, it used to be that we’d use these Amazon wish lists to send gifts to each other, even when we hadn’t met in “real life.” But now your dad’s helping us use Amazon wish lists for the kids out there whom we haven’t met in “real life,” so they can get the books that they need.

And I know that you know more than most how powerful the Internet can be. One of the most miraculous things I’ve ever witnessed on my computer screen was watching video of you use your big box of words — something that everybody pitched in for you to have because it was already yours from the moment it was invented. We just had to make sure that box got into your hands, where it was always supposed to be.

Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you to you and your dad for offering up one signed copy of “Schuyler’s Monster” for this year’s book drive. You’re a fantastic kid, and your family’s helping other fantastic kids out there.

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Any contributions made to the Dewey Donation System from Feb. 18 to Feb. 24 are automatically entered to win one signed copy of Robert Rummel-Hudson’s Schuyler’s Monster. The winner will be announced on Monday, February 25th.

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From Schuyler’s Monster author Robert Rummel-Hudson:

Perhaps it’s a little self-serving to promote the gift of books, seeing as how I’m now one of those people for whom forests are being felled in order to bring my words to the masses. Nevertheless, I have been a proponent of giving books for the greater part of my life, since long before I ever thought I’d actually be writing them. Like no other art form or cultural artifact, books sustain us as a people; they represent our world and our lives in an enduring way. Through books, we don’t just glimpse the thoughts of the people who wrote them. We plunge, all chaos and crazy eyes and loose lapbelts, into their total experiences, and when we share books, we share worlds, and lives, and life. I’ll give up some trees for that. This year, I’m proud to be a part of the Dewey Donation System.