BOOK PACKAGES AVAILABLE AT: The Squirrel Cove store, Gorge Harbour Marina laundry area, and Cortes Natural Food Co-op (outside dining area)

Dear Reader:

Thank you for turning to books during this strange time. Stories can show us our deeper selves and the wider world, it can take us far into the past and to innumerable futures. Reading has been proven to help calm and regulate the nervous system.

With books in high demand and short supply right now, the question was how to get books into the hands of people who want them? Thanks to Cortes Literacy, the Cortes School, and Linnaea Education Centre: we have books! We mostly have books for youth of different ages and perhaps will be able to get more adult books over time. Some are new and some haven’t been used in months or years. A few healthy volunteers using masks, hand-washing, and lots of cleaning have packaged up these books into new ziplock bags.

These books are for you to keep or share as you like, please don’t return them to the drop-offs though as only newly packaged, “quarantined” books are going there.

If you are an adult looking for books, the wee, historic Louisa Tooker library in Whaletown is a private library (not part of the Vancouver Island Regional Library system) which is operated by the Whaletown Community Club. There is an eclectic selection of books, mostly for an adult audience, but there are youth/child books for varying ages. Please contact Bernice McGowan bh.mcromangmail.com.for info on borrowing these books. As well, if you have a device and a library card and need help accessing online books through the VIRL, I’m happy to help and can be reached at cortesliteracygmail.com. Please reach out.


Thanks for sharing your love of literature.


In community,


Manda Aufochs Gillespie
Cortes Literacy & Folk University

Christine Robinson
Children’s Forest Trust Society