(upbeat music) - Hi everyone, Steve Adubato at the New Jersey Education Association Convention in AC, Atlantic City.

We're here with Larry Abrams, who is the executive director and founder of a great organization called BookSmiles.

Good to see you again, my friend.

- It is so good to be back, Steve.

- For the, by the way, go back and look at steveadubato.org.

You'll see past interviews we've done with Larry.

For those who don't know, while the website's up, tell everyone what it is.

- So what we do is obsessively collect children's books, used kids' books, so that we can give them away to kids in need.

No child in New Jersey should grow up with lack of access to books.

- How'd you get into it?

- Came from being a teacher and having a conversation with one of my students who, when I asked her, what are you reading to your baby?

She replied, "I'm not reading to her."

And when I inquired further, she just said, "Mr.

Abrams, that's just not part of my culture."

Instead of lecturing her, I went onto Facebook, did a book drive, 1,000 books rolled onto my front porch I gave to my student, who eventually started reading to her baby girl, and then her two boys behind.

And those kids are all reading on grade level and beyond grade level in the district where I taught.

- I remember we, you haven't been teaching for a few years.

You've not been teaching.

- It's been three years since I retired.

- So this organization, which started with an idea, a need, you address it.

Right, Larry?

Has grown tremendously.

Describe its growth.

- Well, we are growing because we help fix two dumb problems we have in this country.

The first dumb problem is people don't know what to do with their used kids books.

They take them to a big box thrift, they let them molder and fester and age in tubs in their basement.

There is a better alternative.

We are that bridge of books where people give us their books, used books, both grownup and kids books, and we get them into the homes and hands of kids in need.

The other dumb problem we have in this nation.

- Why do you call it a dumb problem?

- Because it is a dumb problem.

The fact that we are throwing away used children's books, they go into landfills, and that is wrong, because people don't know what to do with them.

- Okay, but right now someone watching.

- Right.

- They're inspired by your work, they're impressed.

"Wow, that's terrific, Larry's doing this."

What do they do with their books like right now?

- So what they have is what I call book-wealth.

I made that term up, book-wealth.

They get onto our website at BookSmiles and they will learn how to donate their kids books and their grownup books.

I have found out how to turn grownup books, tons of adult books, each week into kids books.

I trade them.

I trade tons of grownup books for tons of kids books.

I trade them with online book sellers who only want the grownup books.

- Hold on, back up.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- So I've got, in my work, obviously, a lot of books.

You interview authors, I've got some doubles.

I don't need the other one.

I like to keep the original, got a nice little library.

I bring my adult books where to get turned into children's?

Explain that to me.

Where do I bring it?

- So you bring them to BookSmiles and what we do is we take those doubles, we take those grownup books, we put them on a big pallet, and what we then do each week, we trade those big pallets of grownup books for used children's books.

I trade with online booksellers.

- Well, where am I bringing it?

- You're bringing it to the book bank in Pennsauken or you're calling us.

- Do the calling thing, 'cause I'm in northern New Jersey.

It doesn't matter where you're watching right now.

You call the number, the number's on the screen right now.

What happens?

- And what we will do is, if there are enough books, we'll dispatch a truck and we will pick them up.

I am mobilizing teachers here at the NJEA to collect books also in their garage, that way, if we have someone in Montclair collecting books in their garage, once they get literal tons of books, adult books and kids books, I will dispatch our truck to pick them up.

That's how we're going to make it happen.

- I'm curious about this.

I'm a student of leadership.

I'm a student of people who see a problem and decide they're not simply gonna complain about it.

They're gonna do something about it.

When you decided to quote, "Do something about it," when you were confronted with, "It's not in our culture."

- Right.

- By a student or a parent.

- It was a student.

- A student.

- 17-year-old student with a baby.

- Wow, that really puts it in perspective.

Did you ever imagine that BookSmiles would be what it is today compared to, I wanna help out.

- Right, so that's a good question.

So I was a career teacher, but before that I was a Kinko's manager, and I've always dreamed of starting my own business.

- Being an entrepreneur.

- Being an entrepreneur.

And I kind of ran my classroom serving my students with the same kind of passion and vigor and enthusiasm that I used in retail when I ran a Kinko's.

By taking that and putting it into the classroom, I think I became a better teacher.

But lo and behold, this passion project, where I'm just collecting books and giving them away to kids who need them, that ended up snowballing and becoming this wonderful thing that we have today where we are now at the point of being the largest book bank of our kind in the nation.

We are rapidly- - In the nation.

- In the nation, we are rapidly approaching the four millionth book given away since I started this in 2017.

We will have, by the end of this year, we will have distributed 1.3 million books.

So we've distributed in one year a quarter of the books that we've given away since I started in 2017.

Our growth is unbelievable because we're fixing a problem using innovation, taking children's books, and grownup books that would've gone to the dump, gone to landfill.

And the other dumb problem is, why are we tolerating having children in the ninth grade reading at third, fourth, and fifth grade reading levels?

It's because of lack of access to books.

- Before I let you out, how rewarding, one to 10?

- It's definitely a 15.

I look forward to going into work every single day.

I'm surrounded by incredible people.

I have an amazing staff, I cannot do this on my own.

But also the joy of working with my fellow teachers and non-profits is just extraordinary, and every day is amazing.

- This is Larry Abrams, excuse me, executive director and founder of BookSmiles.

We started talking to Larry a few years ago.

I didn't imagine that it would ever get this big.

That BookSmiles would be what it is, the impact that it has.

He's doing important work.

Some people complain about it, other people do something about it.

Thanks, Larry, well done.

- Thank you so much.

- You got it.

Stay with us, we'll be right back.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by The Russell Berrie Foundation.

Holy Name.

NJ Best, New Jersey’s five-two-nine college savings plan.

Kean University.

PSE&G.

EJI, Excellence in Medicine Awards.

A New Jersey health foundation program.

The Fund for New Jersey.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

And by The Fidelco Group.

Promotional support provided by NJ.Com.

And by BestofNJ.com.

- (Male narrator) Ready for anything?

That ought to be our state motto.

All hustle, no nonsense, never backs down.

So when it comes to strengthening the grid and uplifting our communities, we do it our way.

Because storms don’t care what exit they hit, and talking doesn’t fix the grid.

Fixing it does.

Around here, we make our own future.

Because ready is who we are.

PSEG.