A note about my birthday giveaway and Better World Books

I mention Better World Books casually quite a lot.  I love them, I love what they do, and I buy from them frequently.  So when I decided to link them with my birthday giveaway,  it just seemed right to spread that love.  And it is.  What amazes me, though, is how many of you said in your entry comments that you'd never heard of BWB.  Clearly, I have been remiss.  So here goes:

from BWB's Mission statement overview:

Overview: The Online Bookstore with a Soul

Better World Books collects and sells books online to fund literacy initiatives worldwide. With more than six million new and used titles in stock, we’re a self-sustaining, triple-bottom-line company that creates social, economic and environmental value for all our stakeholders.

We were founded in 2002 by three friends from the University of Notre Dame who started selling textbooks online to earn some money, and ended up forming a pioneering social enterprise — a business with a mission to promote literacy.

We’re not a traditional company with an add-on “cause” component. Social and environmental responsibility is at the core of our business. You could say it's in our DNA.

We’re breaking new ground in online bookselling. We believe that education and access to books are basic human rights. That's why books sold on BetterWorldBooks.com help fund high-impact literacy projects in the United States and around the world.

All books are available with free shipping to any location within the United States (or $3.97 worldwide). And in case you’re concerned about your eco-footprint, every order is shipped carbon neutral with offsets from Carbonfund.org.

Here’s the best part: In addition to selling new titles, Better World Books supports book drives and collects used books and textbooks through a network of over 1,800 college campuses and partnerships with over 2,000 libraries nationwide. So far, the company has converted more than 25 million donated books into $7.3 million in funding for literacy and education. In the process, we’ve also diverted more than 13,000 tons of books from landfills.

Because we believe that most every book has lasting value and the potential to help change the world, we see our job as helping to find new homes for unwanted books. Thus far, we’ve donated 1.5 million books to partner programs around the world. Our five primary literacy partners are Books for Africa, Room to Read, Worldfund, the National Center for Family Literacy, and Invisible Children. Good company, no doubt.

Every book purchased from Better World Books contributes to individual literacy throughout the world and the promise of a better life. Clearly, we can’t do this work without our customers. That's why we’re so passionate about trying to offer the best price, selection, customer service, and overall shopping experience.

Thanks for joining us in our mission to create a better world, one book at a time.

Books Saved From Landfills:

32,309,016

Funds Raised for Global Literacy:

$7,617,713.85

and counting

How could this bookseller not have my heart?  I can't think of one bad thing about them.  They hit all the bases: they help people recycle, they do good deeds around the world, they ship eco-friendly and free, their prices are great, and they make you feel good about book buying sprees.  Book Lovers + BWB = Match Made in Heaven.

So when I said I was going to treat myself to a Bargain Bin rummage for my birthday*, and that I was going to share the BWB love with one of you, this is what I was offering.  I want to share the warm fuzzy feeling with you.**  So if you are one of those that told me you hadn't heard of BWB, now you have.  Go; buy; ♥.

*Which I did.  I bought The Two Princesses of Bamarre (Gail Carson Levine), Once Upon a Marigold (Jean Ferris), The Supernaturalist (Eoin Colfer), Magyk (Angie Sage), The Ear, the Eye, the Arm (Nancy Farmer) and Alis (Naomi Rich), which was in addition to my 5/$15.    And I wrote down some other titles that I may go back and get for Round 2.

** So go enter.  I want everyone to have a chance at the fantasticness that is BWB.

Great titles I've bought in the past:
How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
Soulless by Christopher Golden
The Secret Books of Paradys by Tanith Lee
I, Coriander by Sally Gardner
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde 
When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro
White Oleander by Janet Fitch
Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler
A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
Paradise by Toni Morrison
The People's Act of Love by James Meeks
a bunch of Judy Blume books for my neighbor
and many, many more.  Nearly all of these were $3, but nothing I listed was over $6.

Now what are you going to get?