By Samantha Pak
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
When she was in ninth grade, one of Nitya Kansal’s teachers shared with her and her classmates the benefits of reading.
Courtesy of Nitya Kansal
This got Kansal, an avid reader, thinking about the fact that some people don’t have access to books. So, in her well-meaning naiveté as a 15-year-old high schooler wanting to help people access books, she visited her local public library to try to donate books.
“Well, that didn’t work out because what I didn’t realize was that KCLS (King County Library System) Bothell, which was my public library, was very, very well-funded, and when they receive donations, they have to then sell them,” Kansal, who is now 18 and a freshman at the University of Washington, said. “And my goal really was not to have these books sold to people who could afford books in the first place. It was really for these books to reach people who didn’t have access to books in the first place.”
So with guidance from the KCLS librarians, Kansal learned about Title I schools—whose enrollment includes at least 40% of low-income students—and how she could reach out to those teachers and librarians to donate books.
And with that, Bookish Beginning was born.
Through this passion project, Kansal has donated more than 6,400 books over the past few years. Working with her mother, she has held book drives and collected donations from throughout her community to get them to where they need to be.
Inspiration from mom
Kansal said her mother inspired her love of reading. Born in India, Kansal moved to the U.S. at the end of third grade, when she was 9. She lived mostly in Bothell, but also spent some time in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. She didn’t speak much English, and at the time, books were a huge novelty. In India, she said, school libraries only contained children’s books or textbooks, and there weren’t many accessible public libraries. To come to the U.S. and see the sheer number of books available at her school was a fascinating shock for Kansal.
“But I wasn’t really able to read them as well as the other kids in my grade, so I think my mom, seeing that, … wanted to help me out. So, over the summer, she would force me to read a book,” she said. “I really hated it initially, but I ended up falling so much in love with it. I just became the biggest reader, and it’s something that I’ve carried forward with me a lot, even to this day. If you see my bookshelf right now, it’s just lined with books.”
Another source of inspiration for seeing how reading could impact someone’s life was during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Every Sunday, Kansal’s mother would read books to Kansal’s younger cousins in India over Google Meet. And while the kids—who were 9 and 4 at the time—”absolutely hated” it at first, they eventually came around and began to enjoy the ritual, often fighting over who would read the next page or requesting specific books to read. Kansal, seeing their excitement, eventually joined in on the fun as well and began reading to them.
Back into circulation
Through Bookish Beginning, Kansal essentially recycles books that are already in the community. These are books that people have bought, read, and loved, but are now just sitting on their bookshelves, or maybe in a box in the garage. Some haven’t been touched for months, sometimes even years.
Courtesy of Nitya Kansal
“We really aim to get these books out of the house, because what we feel happens is eventually, somebody does a deep clean of their house, and then the books end up either in the recycling or they end up in Goodwill somewhere,” Kansal said. “And I feel like that’s kind of a loss because once these books have been enjoyed once, I don’t think their life should end there. I think they should be given to somebody who can enjoy them again, and they don’t necessarily have to purchase the books. They just have to have access to them.”
Kansal utilizes social media groups, like Buy Nothing Bothell, to collect books from her neighbors.
“I [make posts to] ask for people who have these books that they want to get rid of. [M]any people are actually very responsive. [Y]ou’d be surprised by the number of books people don’t even realize they’ve accumulated over the years,” she said, adding that a lot of times, the books are from parents whose children have outgrown the stories, or from retired teachers.
Once she has the books, Kansal reaches out to school librarians to start the donation process. So far, she’s donated to nine schools, including Kentlake High School in Kent and Dolores Silas High School in Tacoma.
Creating special experiences
Over the last three years, Bookish Beginning has also donated to Canyon Creek Elementary School in Bothell for the PTA’s year-end book giveaway event.
Ashley Watts, PTA membership chair and co-chair of the giveaway for last year and this year, said at the annual event, students have usually gotten one book each to kick off their summer reading. And with Kansal’s help and donations, they had enough for each of their 800-plus students to go home with three books each in June.
“They loved ‘shopping’ and picking out some new-to-them books,” Watts said about the students. “We have really appreciated Nitya’s help in collecting books and her dedication to literacy in our community.”
Watts added that they always appreciate donations of children’s books year round and donations can be dropped off at the Canyon Creek Elementary office.
Kansal has also worked with Clothes For Kids, a nonprofit in Lynnwood that provides free school wardrobes to lower-income students who live in or attend school in Snohomish County or the Northshore School District and meet income eligibility requirements. She has donated 1,200 books to the organization.
Courtesy of Nitya Kansal
“We are so grateful for Nitya and Bookish Beginning’s support of Clothes For Kids,” said the nonprofit’s executive director, Cassie Morey. “We serve more than 5,600 students each year through our free wardrobe program, and every child who shops with us gets to choose a book to take home along with their new wardrobe.”
Morey said when their book supply was running low, Kansal’s donations helped fill the gap to ensure they were able to continue offering the special experience to the children they serve.
“Her support helps us foster a love of reading while making each child’s shopping experience even more meaningful,” Morey said.
Hopes for the community
Kansal said she hopes Bookish Beginning helps to lessen the financial burden for teachers, as many of them use their own money to stock their classroom libraries. She hopes through her donations, teachers won’t be forced to do that anymore.
She also hopes that the program helps to provide a better range of stories for children, or even just a few books that might interest them, and encourages them to read more in the future—”because I know they’re only going to read if they’re interested.”
Anyone interested in collaborating with Bookish Beginning can email bookishbeginning@gmail.com or learn more about the program on the Bookish Beginning Instagram account.
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