Book Fairies, top brokerage create new home for literacy

By GREGORY ZELLER //

A book-smart Long Island nonprofit has united with a leading regional real estate brokerage to expand literacy across the region.

Hicksville-based 501(c)3 organization The Book Fairies has teamed up with Cold Spring Harbor-based Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty (and The Daniel Gale Charitable Foundation, the brokerage’s philanthropic arm) to close literacy gaps for families in under-resourced communities across Long Island and the New York City.

Through the partnership, DGS International Realty offices across the region – there are 27 in all, located between Brooklyn and Westhampton Beach – will collect new and gently used children’s books, young adult titles and “family-oriented reading materials.”

The collections will then be passed along to The Book Fairies, which distributes reading materials to schools, community centers, shelters and other local organizations in “high-need neighborhoods,” as well as “home libraries.”

The collection/distribution model is designed to removes financial and access barriers to reading materials, giving every child “equitable opportunities to learn, grow and thrive through reading,” according to the brokerage.

That brain-food focus is a no-brainer for The Daniel Gale Charitable Foundation, which is “honored to partner with The Book Fairies to help ensure more children have access to the books they deserve,” noted DSG International Realty Chief Executive Officer Deirdre O’Connell.

“Reading unlocks opportunity, inspires curiosity and builds confidence in children of all ages,” O’Connell said, adding that the books collected through the drive are “not just for school, but for a lifetime of learning, discovery and joy.”

This is hardly the first foray into book-drive partnerships for The Book Fairies, which was founded in 2012 by Bellmore resident Amy Zaslansky.

To date, the organization has collected and redistributed more than 6 million books, mostly through a series of high-profile collaborations. Among them: a 2023 partnership with Melville-based Canon USA and a 2019 effort inside the Lafrancis Hardiman Elementary School and the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School, both in Wyandanch.

In that 2019 drive, volunteers lined up roughly 31,000 donated books, end-to-end, through the schools’ hallways and gymnasiums, earning a Guiness Book of World Records title for the longest-ever line of books. The books – 3.81 miles’ worth, shattering the previous record of 2.6 miles – were then distributed throughout the Wyandanch community.

The current drive, which kicked off March 2, has not specified a particular end date and a world record does not appear likely. But for an organization that regularly invites community groups and corporations to host their own charity book drives, the collaboration with DSG International Realty marks another brilliant page-turner, according to The Book Fairies Executive Director Eileen Minogue.

“We know that every child should have access to books and the joy of reading, yet many face barriers to getting them,” Minogue said in a statement. “Through this partnership with Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty and The Daniel Gale Foundation, we can help more families build home libraries and give children the tools they need to succeed.”