French poet and essayist Charles Baudelaire once said: “A book is a garden, an orchard, a storehouse, a party, a company by the way, a counsellor, a multitude of counsellors.”
Baudelaire’s passion for books and reading is well known and Northland children will get access to free books, and a multitude of wise counsel, this Christmas thanks to the Kiwi Christmas Books charity.
Three Northland bookstores - Paihia Post and Bookshop and Russell Post & Book Shop in the Far North and Storytime at Craniums in Whangārei - are the drop-off points in the region and organisers hope to top the 200 books donated in the region last year.
Writer Sonya Wilson, founder and executive director at Kiwi Christmas Books, said she was amazed at the generosity of people donating new books for the cause, which brightened up the lives of so many young people.
Wilson said while it’s Kiwi Christmas Books, they don’t have to be books about Christmas, in fact it’s better if they are not as they would be read year-round.