The wildfires that tore through Los Angeles right after the New Year took out thousands of homes, and among all the personal items burned were books. Hana Lee Goldin, LA City lead of Reading Rhythms, jumped to action.
“I was just so desperate to do something, and I knew that there were so many organizations that were better suited to things like emergency supplies or clothing or essentials. And I'm like, well, what do we do? We do books,” she says.
The organization created a spreadsheet for Angelenos to list specific books that need replacing and explain what those titles meant to them. A donor will then “claim” or fulfill their request.
Another form is for people to send books to a fellow reader/beneficiary.
Poet and author Elline Lipkin, who was affected by the Eaton Fire, requested two books she read as a kid: A Little Princess and The Secret Garden, both by Francis Hodgson Burnett.
She explains why the second novel was important: “When we found our home in Altadena, the previous owners had cultivated a gorgeous garden for over 30 years, and the real estate listing said, ‘Come to the secret garden.’ And that was instantly a draw for me and also for my husband, because it made us think of this book.”
Lipkin adds that books aren’t just objects but lifelines: “For people who love books, that feeling is real. To be in a room and not be surrounded by books is to feel as if you're in an empty space.”