Help MTS Recover 750 Books for Classroom Libraries
Will you help us rebuild our classroom libraries that were destroyed during the protests? 
We are the English teachers at MTS/Banaadir Charter Schools. We’re seeking 750 books to rebuild the classroom libraries that we have lost when our school was destroyed during protests in response to George Floyd’s murder. We are passionate teachers, and we have put a lot of our money into making sure our students have access to quality #ownvoices books that reflect their identities and communities. We have spent several years building our collections through donations, personal purchases, and raising money.
Our classrooms are filled with students from all over Minneapolis, St Paul, and surrounding suburbs. We are a Title 1 school, and over 90% of our students live below the poverty line. With the library currently out of commission, we can only rely on our classrooms to get books into the hands of our students. And all students - including ours - deserve access to QUALITY books. Nothing has the power to impact a life like a good book.
One of Rebecca’s students, Daniel, had just moved to the US and had been struggling to connect to school. When she handed him a copy of Raina Telgemeier’s Drama in Spanish, she saw his eyes light up. He finally had something he could read during silent reading time in his Language Arts class. He was able to feel like his peers and read something engaging and feel a little less far from home. Books can bridge gaps and forge relationships between people. All students should have access to stories that allow them to feel at home at school.
What can your donations do to help students like Daniel have access to good books?
$5 - a used book
$10 - a used hardcover book
$15 - one new book (the gold standard)
$30 - Two new books? Three used books? So many options!
$50 - Suggest us your favorite YA/Middle Grades title, and we will make sure it ends up in one of our libraries
$100 - 8 volume graphic novel bulk set (Amulet for life!)
Who needs books?
Mars, Rebecca, and Terry are each looking to replace around 200 books. Miriam and Tom are looking to replace about 75.
Any additional donations will be split between us.
I want to help, but I hate GoFundMe! What can I do?
Besides donating money directly, we are also have:
-Individual teacher wishlists in the section below
-Used book drive! Click on THIS link to see what books teachers are looking for in their different grade levels.
Hi Mom! Do you want to support my library?
While we intend to split all monetary donations, you can support individual teachers through our Wish Lists. We chose to order from Moon Palace books, a local book store (literally right across the street!) to continue to help our community rebuild.
Mars
Miriam
Rebecca
Terry
Tom
Moon Palace wish lists work a little bit differently from Amazon wish lists... It won't automatically ship to the person who made the list! But Moon Palace will hold the books for us as long as you add "For MTS Classroom Library Book Drive" in the ADDITIONAL INFORMATION box. Thanks for being pals, Moon Palace!
What happened?
On May 27th, our school was trashed as part of the collateral damage from the protests in response to the murder of George Floyd. Our school was situated between Target and Dollar Tree on Lake Street, across the street from the now-burned Third Precinct. Several fires were started in our school, which triggered the sprinkler system, which stayed on for about a week. 
On May 27th, our school was trashed as part of the collateral damage from the protests in response to the murder of George Floyd. Our school was situated between Target and Dollar Tree on Lake Street, across the street from the now-burned Third Precinct. Several fires were started in our school, which triggered the sprinkler system, which stayed on for about a week. 
(RIP class set of Anger is a Gift, we barely knew ye...)
Anything that wasn’t burned or torn apart was severely damaged by the water, and when we finally were able to enter the building to salvage, there weren't a lot of books left to save.
Thank you for being a part of our community's healing process!
Why so much money for books?
Looks like SOMEONE wants to make an English teacher talk about why books are important. BUCKLE UP!
#OwnVoices Lit is Important
Remember reading Catcher in the Rye in school and vaguely identifying with Holden Caulfield but also thinking he was really out of touch? Now imagine you’re 14 and have just moved out of a refugee camp and into a place where the color of your skin makes you a target. Classics are important, but having characters and stories that give students mirrors to see themselves in is even more important for building life long readers.
#OwnVoices lit is written about diverse characters (race, ethnicity, LGBTQ+, ability, it goes on) by authors with the same background. This means that experience is more likely to be realistically portrayed, and that kids can see themselves in both the characters AND the authors of books.
The #OwnVoices movement has taken off recently, which is great! So many cool, interesting YA books are being written right now! But that also means that they are new and cost more money. Totally worth it.
Our student body is diverse. They should have access to a wide variety of books with characters that look like them, written by authors who look like them. There is something truly magical that happens when a student connects to a book they see themselves reflected in.
Mars: “A student was having a hard time with her family, struggling with the culture clash that comes from being in a first-generation immigrant home. She had to be out of school for a while, and I sent her home with Elizabeth Acevedo's The Poet X. She came back excited "I usually hate reading, but I've never read a book that felt so much like me!" When I sent kids home with books during the start of COVID, she was vociferously recommending it to her friends.”
Reading Builds Empathy
Reading allows you to imagine potential futures for yourself, and to live through different choices without having to actually experience it. Our students need to imagine themselves in many possible better futures, and in order to do that they need access to good books.
Rebecca: “I got the book I am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika Sanchez specifically for my Latinx students… but a Somali girl asked to borrow it first, and I was like ‘Sure! Go for it!’ She comes back a week later and told me ‘This book changed my life! I love it so much and I had no idea that the Mexican girls at my school are going through the same family stuff as me and my Somali friends!”
Reading Engagement Lowers Dramatically at Age 9
One thing that defines the high school reading experience is the whole class novel, which is usually a classic written at least 100 years ago, in language and syntax that makes it hard for students to connect. When they have a range of choices about modern themes in modern language, they really get attached to books! You should see how quickly kids gobble up graphic novels, poetry, and YA -- they WANT to read!
Mars: “One of my juniors was so excited to see that I had the Maximum Ride mangas on my shelves. He had been reading them in middle school, and then hadn’t seen them since. He immediately checked out the last five from me, and found me the link to purchase the 9th book, which just came out. ‘I haven’t been this excited about reading in years!’ he explained.”