Our New Tagline

In January Marilyn, a Books Inside volunteer, forwarded an article from the New York Times titled "A Reader Behind Bars." As I read it, one sentence jumped off the page: "It is impossible to predict the trajectory of a book." The sentence captures my thoughts as we pack boxes for the prisons and jails: we simply don't know the path that any of these books will travel, whose hands they will reach, what the timing will be in that person's life, what meaning the story or a character or a comment will have.  We select books for particular facilities hoping that the choices will benefit the people there but, who knows? A character in a romance novel may mirror an experience changing a reader's perspective, a violent crime novel might provide a view of violence that loses its glamour, a light, relaxing read might be perfectly timed to balance a troubling situation.  We simply don't know the journeys of the books.

Ethan Hauser, the author of the article, has kindly given us permission to use that quotation. You will now find it on our website and correspondence: "It is impossible to predict the trajectory of a book." Our thanks to you, Ethan Hauser!

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