Join us at Geekdom for a night of board gaming in support of Book Buddies. Nerd Night is holding a book drive to collect books for this yearÕs fairs. Bring your new or gently used children’s books! Use our resident game library or bring your own.

**MPORTANT LOCATION NOTE: We will be in the basement of the Rand office building (entrance on Houston) this month due to a conflict in the Event Centre. We will have someone available at the door until 8:00pm – you may message here or text Stephanie to get someone to come down and let you in after that time!**

Book Idea List HERE: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1WZZHJYQ11YRJ?&sort=price-asc

(Hint: Shop at http://smile.amazon.com and select San Antonio Nerd Night as your charity! We receive a tiny donation at no cost to you with every purchase.)

Book Buddies is an initiative of San Antonio Youth Literacy. Book Buddies collects books suitable for kids in kindergarten through 5th grade and distributes them at the end of the school year in free book fairs at their Reading Buddy Schools.

Children choose books to take home to read over the summer, which helps prevent the Òsummer slideÓ Ñ a regression in learning over summer vacation when they are not being actively taught. Studies also show that children who grow up in homes without books, and who are not read to as children, are far more likely to fall behind in school, fail to complete high school, and suffer the unfortunate outcomes associated with failure: drug use, criminal behavior, early pregnancy, etc.

San Antonio Youth Literacy developed Book Buddies as an offshoot of their Reading Buddy program, which exists in San Antonio Title 1 schools where at least 75% of the families are below the poverty line. Children at these schools attend the free book fairs at the end of the school year and take the books home and keep them as their own. They can read them over the summer, share them with family and friends, or even their parents. In many cases these donated books are the only books in the home. An added benefit is that children in more advantaged homes learn to share their no longer needed books with another child. Everybody wins!