Last year, Word Up Community Bookshop collected books for young people who arrived in New York after being separated from their families at the border.

Veronica Liu, founder of the all-volunteer store, selected Spanish language titles for middle school children and teens. She drew heavily on authors from Central America—where many of the children and their families had traveled from. Since June, the bookstore has donated more than 400 books to different organizations helping refugees. “For one round of donations, a community member donated $300 to help us pull together an order quickly, and she even drove the books to the requesting organization for us,” said Liu.

Later this month, Liu leaves for the America Bookseller Association’s (ABA) Winter Institute. Held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, it is a national book convention, and bookstores from across the U.S. will be donating books to refugees. Denise Chávez, owner of Casa Camino Real Bookstore in Las Cruces, New Mexico, originally conceived of Libros para el Viaje (Books for the Journey).

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