In her syndicated advice column Ask Amy (via the Washington Post), Amy Dickinson wrote that every year at Christmastime, she asks readers to put "A Book on Every Bed," noting: "I do so in memory of my mother, Jane, whose weekly trips to our town's library always yielded armloads of books. In our household, we went without some things that other families had, but we always had books in abundance." Dickinson credited the idea of putting books on beds at Christmastime to historian David McCullough.
"Working with my local literacy partner Children's Reading Connection, this campaign has grown to include schools, libraries and booksellers, who have donated scores of books to families that might not have access to them," she added. "This year, I am thrilled that author Jacqueline Woodson agreed to share a very personal literacy story."
Dickinson also wrote that "to support independent bookstores, which have had to pivot during the pandemic (like all of us), I'm presenting some recently published books in various categories, selected by some of my favorite booksellers," including Jill Yeomans, owner of White Whale Bookstore, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Lisa Swayze, general manager of Buffalo Street Books, Ithaca, N.Y.; and the bookselling staff of Politics and Prose Bookstore, Washington, D.C.