Counters

Target Who Books Donated to Schools: 9673
Inspired Donations by Other People: 416

email: targetwho@virginmedia.com Twitter: twitter.com/Targetwho
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/TargetWho

Donating 11,000 Books to School Libraries to support Children's Literacy

Saturday 18 May 2013

Frequently Asked Questions


Who are Target Who?
We are a small group of Doctor Who fans who won an eBay auction for over 11,000 vintage Doctor Who children’s books.  The books are still in mint condition, having lain in storage somewhere for over 30 years.  We are not sure yet exactly how many we have, but estimate the number to be closer to 14,000.  However as we open each package we sometimes sadly discover that damp has got in and a number of books are not in readable condition anymore and require recycling.
What are Target Who doing with the books?
We are passionate about children’s reading.  These are the very books that turned many of us from reluctant readers into bookworms back in the 1970s and 1980s.
We are aware that schools have shrinking budgets due the global recession.
We are aware that schools have many children reluctant to read in their classes.
We are aware that the current generation LOVE Doctor Who.
We want to put a SMALL number of books (6 to 8) into as many school libraries as we can possibly reach.
How will Target Who achieve this?
We will achieve all this using three of the most important things that teachers are instilling in their pupils around the country - Courtesy, Communication and Teamwork.  Simply put we will communicate our passion and importance for children’s reading, asking politely for help and enlisting the aid of friends, family, teachers and others around the UK to reach our aims.
This may seem an impossible task, but we are confident that by the end of the year we will have put books in schools that stretch from Cornwall to the Scottish Highlands. 
Who are the books suitable for?
The books are suitable for both Junior and Senior school libraries.  We have a small number that are only suitable for Senior schools. We will send you a random selection of books, but will try and send books by several different authors, so your pupils can experience different writing styles
How do I nominate my school for books?
If you are a member of staff at a school simply email
targetwho@virginmedia.com
Please let us know the FULL address of your school and a contact name and we will reply as soon as possible.  The email is monitored throughout the day and you should hear back within 24 hours.
If you could also mention the age range of your pupils it would help in the selection of titles.
If you are not a staff member at a school, please do not email.  Tell your local school about us so they can consider our offer.  We will only add schools to our distribution list if we are sure they want our books and the schools themselves contact us.

How can my school help?
Any help you can give us in our task would be gratefully received.  Maybe your school could act as a local hub where we can deliver books to for collection by other local schools that have also signed up.  This would enable less deliveries to be made by us and therefore speed us distribution. 

What is the purpose of the blog?
The blog is being written to tell our story as it unfolds.  It is not a Doctor Who blog - it is a children’s literacy blog.  It is being carefully written to be accessible to all - teachers, parents, children, everyone!  There are lots of depressing stories in the news, and we hope that what we are striving to achieve will be an inspirational read.  We hope people will look in regularly to see what we have been up to and how and where the books have gone.  We have big plans and many surprises ahead and promise we will put a smile readers faces if you follow us.
We are also open to work with teachers if our blog can encourage their pupils’ literacy.  For example, should one of your pupils write a review of one of our books, we will gladly publish it on the blog.  (Hopefully they will have enjoyed the book!)  Please feel free to suggest other ways in which you can use us to inspire your children.
I’m a Doctor Who Fan.  Can I have some of the books for myself?
No, we’re sorry. We thought long and hard about this and our thinking is this; a book in a fan’s collection is read once, maybe not at all.  We want these books to be read again and again, so we are only putting them in school libraries or similar places where a steady stream of children can constantly discover them.
I’m a Doctor Who Fan too.  Can I help?
We hope we will inspire you to join our cause to support children’s literacy in schools.  Do you have Doctor Who books in your house that you will never read again?  Wouldn’t they be better in a school library where they can be enjoyed by young readers again and again?  Could you return to your childhood school with a gift of Doctor Who books?  We can’t think of a better way of celebrating Doctor Who’s 50th Anniversary than we, the childhood fans of yesteryear, freely putting a Doctor Who book into the school libraries of the new generation of fans.  Will you join us?  We are not asking you to buy 14,000 books and distribute them all over the UK like we are doing.  Just buy as many as you can afford and give them to the schools you can reach.  Together we can help encourage an entire generation to fall in love with reading. 
What is this pin map?
We have created a pin map that marks the location of every school we manage to reach.  We have also created a second pin map to record the locations of every book those fans donate in support of us - providing you tell us where.  The pin map can be accessed from the menu on the right hand side of the blog
What are the photo albums and what is in them?
We have three photo albums set up that can be accessed from the right hand menu. ’General Photos’ contains pictures of our books as they move around the country.  ‘DW in Schools’ will contain photos of displays, mascots or examples of how Doctor Who is used in schools to teach the curriculum.  ‘Donations’ will contain any photos of people donating books either from, or in support of Target Who.  If you are donating books and want to send us a photo of you stood outside the school with the books we will add them here.
Where are the readers’ comments on the blog?
Every viewer has the facility to add comment to each individual blog post.  There are two ways of accessing them.  Firstly you can click on the title of an individual post.  This will then just display that post will all comments underneath.  The Second way is to click on “comments” at the end of the blog entry
How do I add a comment?
This is far easier than it first seems.    First enter your comment in the large white text box.  Blogger now defaults to posting using your blogger login.  YOU DO NOT NEED A BLOGGER LOGIN TO POST A COMMENT!  Click on the downward pointing triangle at the end of the ‘Comment as’ box and select ‘Name/URL’.  You are given two boxes to complete.  Enter your name in the first, but the second is optional.  You don’t have to enter a URL and can leave this blank.  Press publish and your comment will be added.

6 comments:

  1. I am in Manchester in early July, would that work to collect books? I can bring any that are due to go to the highlands up and get them dropped off using the internal delivery service? so no post to highlands!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Ruan,

      I've emailed you via your highlifehighland.com email address. Please get in touch so we can see if we can arrange to take you up on this wonderful offer

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  2. What a great plan! I have some books I was going to get rid of. I can donate them to your cause. I live on the border of Wales with access to Bristol and surrounding areas. They are the 90's reprints and never been read, in my library doing nothing but being a variant cover. 17 in total.
    Please let me know if I can donate and where to send/drop them.
    Best of luck

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Koth,

      What a wonderful offer. Thank You. There are a few options we have. Could you please email us as Targetwho@virginmedia.com and we can discuss which works best.

      Thanks again

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  3. We had some books delivered by David to our school in Gloucester. The children were very excited, especially as they knew that the books had been donated by someone! They were quickly swiped off of the shelves and the children came to visit me to let me know what they thought of them! The comments from the children were all very positive including; 'The book has inspired me with my writing and given me ideas', 'I love how imaginative they are' and 'I can't wait to read the next one'. I'd say they have been a hit, so I wanted to express my thanks on behalf of Heron Primary School. Many thanks.

    ReplyDelete