Gale Brewer Gears Up For Free Book Fair, Seeking Donations From Jan. 6 to Jan. 17

Upper West Side City Councilmember Gale Brewer is helping host another Free Children’s Book Fair on Jan. 26, with the partnership of the Marlene Meyerson JCC. It will held at the JCC itself from 1 p.m., at 334 Amsterdam Ave. Last year’s event saw an impressive 3,000 books get donated, 1,700 of which were distributed to children.

First, however, books must be donated. They can be dropped off at Brewer’s district office at 563 Columbus Ave., between 10 a.m.–6 p.m., from January 6 to January 17. They can also be dropped off from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the JCC between Jan. 20 and Jan. 24. According to Brewer’s office, books must be “kid-friendly” and “lightly-used,” if not new. In other words, books for kids aged 13 and under.

In an interview with The Spirit, Councilmember Brewer said she was expecting great things this year. She noted that last year’s event was “amazing,” with “hundreds and hundreds of people” showing up. “West Siders are so generous,” she added, and donated oodles of books. The event was packed too, despite last year’s rain, with people crammed together while browsing. “You couldn’t move,” she reflected, anticipating another similarly outstanding turnout this year on the actual give away day.

Attendees can take as many books as they want. “You know how you go to book fairs in some places and you can only take two books? Here, you can take ten books, you can twenty books, you can take one hundred books,” Brewer said.

Volunteers man different stages for different age groups, such as first-grade, second-grade, or high-school. She added that volunteers try to give out books to as many migrant children, as well as children that lived in NYCHA houses, as they can.

“Teachers showed up,” she said, which was a pleasant surprise for her. “They were spending Sunday thinking about their students. We had some bags, they also had massive bags. I call them granny carts. They filled their entire bag, I’m talking like 30 or 40 books.” She anticipates that this will happen again.

She added that a volunteer from St. Agnes Library, on 444 Amsterdam Ave., spent all year organizing books for Spanish-speaking children that went to the 2023 book fair: “She was literally doing it in the basement, no lights, no windows, just books.” To complement efforts such as this, Brewer encourages readers of The Spirit to donate books written in different languages.

The fun part for Brewer’s office will be transporting all of the donated books from her office to the JCC. Much like at St. Agnes, books will fill up the basement for a couple of weeks, before being piled into friends’ cars and spare carts on the big day of the fair.

“It’s a big effort, but it’s fun. Whatever we can do,” Brewer concluded.