The Books A Plenty team, Linda Lavin (left), Sheree Brown, Andrea Fletcher, and Scott Brown. Photo / George Novak
As Santa packs his sleigh, a special donation has been made so local kids doing it tough get a little surprise.
It's one day before Christmas and the final day of the Bay of Plenty Times six-week Christmas Appeal for the Tauranga Community Foodbank.
The community donated 155 brand-new books for children and young adults through local bookstore Books A Plenty.
And one of the donors adding to the Christmas joy was author Lynley Dodd, who donated several of her Hairy Maclary books.
Co-owner Scott Brown said it was the first time they had done the appeal, and it wouldn't be the last.
He and his wife, Sheree, own the store and were approached by Kiwi Christmas Books for the book appeal this year.
The organisation collects donations of new books to gift to Kiwi kids who would otherwise go without at Christmas.
He said there was a "huge" response from the community — larger than anticipated.
Families, a local book club, local authors and Penguin New Zealand were among those who selected and added to the pile of books.
Brown said the couple were pleasantly surprised with the wide range of ages for which the books had been chosen, as well as the many Kiwi authors making up the bylines.
Kiwi Christmas Books director Sonya Wilson said the local response was "fantastic", especially given this was the first time they've done this in Tauranga and hadn't advertised it.
"Books and stories can really be so powerful; they educate, they entertain, they teach empathy and understanding and allow kids to see the world through other people's eyes," Wilson said.
"As one of our posters says: Reading gives us a place to go when we have to stay where we are."
Wilson said the Tauranga foodbank seemed like a "fantastic" local charity with direct involvement with local families in need.
Overall, more than 6000 books were donated nationwide and would be delivered to 21 charities nationwide.
Tauranga Community Foodbank manager Nicki Goodwin said they were "absolutely beautiful books".
"It was very special, a lot of care and love went into choosing those books."
The books were being tucked into the parcels for families for a nice surprise when they opened it up.
"It would be an absolute delight."
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