The Packhorse Librarians
…and the impact of access to books
by Carolyn Clare Givens
A few weeks ago, we shared our partnership with the 21st Century Packhorse Librarians and the opportunity you have to be involved. If you haven’t heard that yet, watch this video for a quick catch-up and then read on to learn more about what we’re doing and why.
I grew up in a book family. While Dad was not an avid reader, he was absolutely a storyteller, and cared deeply about the stories in our home. Meanwhile, Mom, the granddaughter of the book salesman and a wordsmith herself, consumed books with a speed I will never be able to match.
With sisters nine and five years older than me, I grew up listening in while Mom read them stories at bedtime, and they, in turn, listened when she read to me. I was exposed to stories “too old” for me, and they deeply enjoyed revisiting stories “too young” for them. We learned that age doesn’t really matter—we processed stories that we heard or read at the level that our maturity allowed us to process them. We knew that if a book bothered us, we could talk with Mom and Dad about it. And we learned never to look down on a book because it was “young,” but instead the truth that C. S. Lewis wrote in his dedication for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: “But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. You can then take it down from some upper shelf, dust it, and tell me what you think of it.”
I recognize that having this kind of access to books in our home (not to mention the public library where we went weekly, plus our school libraries, plus our church library) is a level of privilege not available to many kids in our country. And researchers have found that “Access to books and educational material is the single biggest barrier to literacy development in the United States and beyond” (BookHarvest.org). Having books in the home (not just libraries) “increases children’s academic success, vocabulary development, attention and job attainment” (JCFS.org).
All this talk of home libraries, understandably, has us excited as publishers of books. We would love to see a shelf of Bandersnatch Books titles in everyone’s library. For some people, that’s not possible, but you can help us make it more of a reality for a particular group: the people of Western North Carolina.
Bandersnatch Books is located in North Carolina, near Charlotte, in what’s called “the Piedmont”—the land between the coastal low country and the mountains. From where we find ourselves, we can get to the beach in a few hours, but the closest mountain hike is only about an hour away. So when our neighbors in the Western North Carolina mountains were devastated with over 20 inches of rain in two days last fall as Helene moved through the region, we watched and worried and wept with them.
Many of these mountain towns were already places where homes are not very likely to be filled with books, and with 1000-year flood levels, many of those who had libraries lost them. In the aftermath, as relief organizations found ways to bring food and water to isolated valleys and rebuild roads so that electrical crews could restore power, the people of Western North Carolina took stock.
One woman, Kirsten Turner, who was raised in the foothills of those mountains, realized that she might not be able to work heavy machinery, but she could share books. She’d read about the original packhorse librarians in The Bookwoman of Troublesome Creek, and was inspired to serve the people of Western North Carolina in the same way—this time taking in books with trucks and SUVs.
When we heard about the project in January, we immediately reached out. We wanted to join in and serve our neighbors in this way. A few weeks later, we sent along a couple boxes of books which were distributed at events in March.
Now, we’re looking forward to helping again, but we need you to join us. On May 10, the Packhorse Librarians are hosting the Joy on the Mountain Jubilee in Burnsville, North Carolina. The event will honor the original Packhorse Librarians, 90 years after their founding, and Bandersnatch Books plans to be there, donating books and time.
What started as a brainstorm between the Mountain Mule Packers (a group that brought resources in where vehicles couldn’t go after Helene) and the 21st Century Packhorse Librarians has grown into one of the biggest events they’ve held yet—to give you a sense of size, this past weekend they held an event where they distributed around 3,000 books, and they expect the Joy on the Mountain Jubilee to be even bigger.
How can you help?
Bandersnatch is a small company, and we don’t have the capacity to give away as many books as we’d like, but we can offer them at a discount for you to give.
Purchase books at our website store and use the code PACKHORSE for 40% off of each book you buy. If you can help us with the shipping costs, that’s all you need to do. If you can’t, also use the code PACKSHIP for free shipping.
Is there a particular book you love in our catalogue? Consider purchasing several copies at the discounted rate for the people of Western North Carolina. Do you want to get one of everything? The discount applies across the board.
We’ll keep this code live for the foreseeable future and collect and send along books whenever we have a boxful, but right now, we’d love to have a bunch to take with us to the Joy on the Mountain Jubilee.
It’s your turn: help us bring more treasures found off the beaten path to the people of the mountains.
May 10, 2025 - Joy on the Mountain Jubilee with the 21st Century Packhorse Librarians - Purchase books using code PACKHORSE
June 24, 2025 - Release of mystery novel for older readers by Katherine Ladny Mitchell, Not to Be - Preorders OPEN
July 18–20, 2025 - Bandersnatch at the Realm Makers Expo in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Learn more
Fall 2025 - Release of middle grade fantasy novel by Glenn McCarty, The Song of the Stone Tiger
Fall 2025 - Release of illustrated children’s poetry anthology, I’ve Got a Bad Case of Poetry - Preorder on the Kickstarter Platform
November 2025 - Release of lower middle-grade novel by Mary Barrows, Joe the Fourth and the King’s Crown
Help Us Support the 21st Century Packhorse Librarians!
During the Great Depression, a group of women saddled up their horses and delivered books through the Appalachian Mountains. In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Kirsten Turner is leading a group bringing books back to Appalachia, 21st-Century Style. You can learn more about the project in this article!
We connected with Kirsten earlier this year through the Story Warren community and packed up a box of books for them to use at some of their early spring events. We’d like to do it again, but we need your help! Here’s how:
Order any books from our website using code PACKHORSE for 40% off.
If you’d like to help us with shipping costs, that’s all you need to do. If you can’t help with shipping, you can also add code PACKSHIP for free shipping.
We’ll package up all the books you order and ship them to the Packhorse Librarians in batches or take them when we volunteer at an event.
You can fill in our address for the shipping address: P.O. Box 2473, Indian Trail, NC 28079
*Any orders using these codes will be sent to the Packhorse Librarians for Western North Carolina.
Do you love mysteries the same way we do? Katherine Ladny Mitchell’s Not to Be, the first book in the Pen & Paintbrush Mysteries, a new cozy mystery series featuring sisters Kathy and Liz Waters, a journalist and an artist, who combine Liz’s eye for detail with Kathy’s way with words to help solve the crime.
Also please follow Bandersnatch Books on Instagram or Facebook!
“Art can order what is otherwise a distressing mess. It can offer worth to those who think themselves worthless, and a name to those who are nameless.”
Walter Wangerin, Jr., Beate Not the Poore Desk
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