The result? Nearly 2,000 donated books -- enough to fill 30 boxes -- were collected.

The idea for the Beach School book drive grew out of a desire to develop opportunities for families to participate in community outreach.

"Last summer our third-grade daughter, Sarah, had the idea of collecting donated books," said Beach parent Ellen Reed. "I floated the idea at the parents club meeting and we decided to have a book drive. We're asking families to look at the books they have and donate those they've outgrown."

"I was amazed at the number of titles," said Reed. "There's everything from Harry Potter to atlases of wild animals."

Sarah Reed-Guy had been putting together a box of books from her home library, to give to charity, when she had the idea to make book donations a community project.

"I told my mom it would be a cool idea, and fun, to give books to help people," said Sarah. "The idea grew."

An organizing meeting for the Beach book drive was held in January and parents were amazed at students' interest.

"About 20 kids showed up to help organize the drive," said Reed. "They made posters, gave presentations to classes and created book depositories for the donations."

The books were set to be presented to Sherman Elementary School (off 58th Avenue in Oakland) this month.

"Students will sort the books," said Reed.

Sherman School was selected as a recipient of the book drive through a community outreach program at Park Day School on 43rd Street in Oakland.

"We've been holding a book drive for the Oakland public schools for almost five years," said Laurie Grossman, community outreach coordinator for Park Day School. "We feel it is our responsibility as fellow educators to link arms and share our resources."

Through Park Day School's connections with the Oakland schools, Beach parents learned of the need for books at Sherman Elementary.

"If kids would clean off their shelves, there would be many fabulous books that could go to fill the huge gap," said Grossman.

Park Day School has donated 52,000 books to the public schools over five years, and Beach organizers are inspired.

"Our goal is to provide as many books as possible for the Oakland schools," said Reed. "And, to give our kids a broader sense of community."

For more information about book drives, call Laurie Grossman at Park Day School, 510 653-0317, ext. 105.

Reach Cindee de la Vara at## cdelavara@cctimes.com or 510-339-4517.

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