Brooklyn Flea

This Saturday the Flea is proudly hosting a book drive to stock the library of a New Orleans public school, Andrew Jackson Middle School, that was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina (above) and has been rebuilt and is set to reopen August 11. The ReadThis non-profit is operating the drive, and they'll have a couple of tables at the Lafayette Ave. entrance on Saturday.

Andrew Jackson MS is in St. Bernards Parish, which was among the areas hit hardest by Katrina, and now the BP oil spill is adding to the community's woes. We want to help.

ReadThis is an awesome all-volunteer non-profit that promotes access to books (public schools without libraries, troops overseas, hospital pediatric wards, homeless shelters); we heard about them and the NOLA drive through our pal author Jeffrey Rotter (The Unknown Knowns).

Here's how you can help:

1. Bring middle-school-level books to the Flea on Saturday and drop them off at the ReadThis table. (They'll ship them to the school.)

2. Buy a new book for the school from Fort Greene's Greenlight Bookstore, which will also have a table on Saturday.

3. Send books yourself—email ReadThis for more info. (Use that email if you want to help staff the Flea table too.)

Thanks!