First Book

First Book provides new books to children in need addressing one of the most important factors affecting literacy – access to books. The inspiration for the organization was born when Kyle Zimmer, a corporate lawyer by day and tutor at an inner-city soup kitchen by night, discovered that the children she tutored had no books to read.

Kyle discovered that the majority of programs reaching low-income populations have few, if any, age-appropriate books for the children they serve. She realized that there were millions of potential readers, future workers, citizens and parents, who were eager to love reading and learning, but were without the tools to do so. Spurred to action, Kyle left her day job and in 1992 founded First Book to provide new books and resources to the children who needed them the most.

That first year, First Book delivered 12,000 books to local communities in the Washington DC area. Now, 17 years later, First Book has deliver more than 60 million books to programs serving children in need across the United States and Canada.

By providing new books to children in preschools and after-school programs, mentoring and tutoring programs, shelters and day care centers and beyond, First Book provides resources to empower teachers and administrators. With access to high-quality books, educational materials and more, these caring leaders can better teach, plan curriculum and impart a love of learning, elevating the quality of the programs and opportunities available to children in need.

Through our innovative models, First Book has transformed a fragmented group of programs serving the most vulnerable children into a vibrant, centralized network numbering more than 20,000 groups serving millions of children. Through the First Book Marketplace, First Book National Book Bank and First Book Advisory Boards, First Book continues to expand our offerings of free and low-cost books to better meet the needs of the programs and children we serve.

First Book envisions a world where all children have an enriched learning environment with new books and educational resources of their own.

*text copied directly from First Book site.

AbeBooks.com

AbeBooks is an online marketplace for books. More than 110 million new, used, rare, and out-of-print books are offered for sale through the AbeBooks websites from thousands of booksellers around the world. Readers can find bestsellers, collectors can find rare books, students can find new and used textbooks, and treasure hunters can find long-lost books.

AbeBooks Inc. is a subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc. AbeBooks, an online book selling pioneer, was acquired in December 2008 and remains a stand-alone operation with headquarters in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, and a European office in Dusseldorf, Germany.

Their mission is to help people find and buy any book from any bookseller anywhere and their business stretches around the world with six international sites - AbeBooks.com, AbeBooks.co.uk, AbeBooks.de, AbeBooks.fr, AbeBooks.it, and IberLibro.com.

Powell's Books

From humble storefront beginnings in 1971 on a derelict corner of northwest Portland, Oregon, Powell's Books has grown into one of the world's great bookstores, with seven locations in the Portland metropolitan area, and one of the book world's most successful dot-coms (Powell's.com), serving customers worldwide.

Powell's roots began in Chicago, where Michael Powell, as a University of Chicago graduate student, opened his first bookstore in 1970. Encouraged by friends and professors, including novelist Saul Bellow, Michael borrowed $3,000 to assume a lease on a bookstore. The venture proved so successful that he managed to repay the loan within two months.

Michael's father Walter, a retired painting contractor, worked one summer with Michael in the Chicago store. He so enjoyed his experience that upon returning to Portland he opened his own used bookstore.

Michael joined Walter in 1979, creating a bookstore with a unique recipe that, though viewed as unorthodox, worked: Used and new, hardcover and paperback, all on the same shelf, open 365 days a year and staffed by knowledgeable and dedicated book lovers.

Michael says, "In the used book world, mixing paperbacks and hardbacks was not so much of a stretch, but when my dad had the idea of bringing in new books too, I had no sympathy. Used and new on the same shelf? It seemed crazy." However, Michael concludes, combining books "had synergy way beyond what we expected. If you put all the new books in one store and all the used books in another, each wouldn't get half the total business — they drive each other."

Six stores and several expansions later, Powell's went online in 1994, and experienced immediate success. Within two years, Powell's entire inventory was listed on the web.