Read Across America Day to promote literacy amongst students may have been earlier this month, but Discover Books is helping place books in the hands of children and adults across the country all year round.

Founded in 2012, Discover Books started as a company with environmental interests.

 “In a nutshell, our belief is very fundamental: we want to divert books from landfills,” said Discover Books Marketing Manager Victor Aparicio.

However, as the company acquired more books it became clear that not all of the books people were discarding needed to be thrown out. Thus, Discover Books quickly incorporated new services into the company such as selling used books online and donating them to other partners.

“It almost started a new foundation in that we were not only recycling books, but looking for more innovative ways to get different departments involved and by that I mean neighbors, schools, libraries, and other literacy partners,” said Aparicio.

One of the ways Discover Books is engaging the community is through their collection boxes. There are three large blue dispensers in Turlock where those with a surplus amount of books can drop them through the slot. While books like out-of-date math textbooks will probably be recycled, others like timeless novels and how-to books are likely to have their stories live on in the hands of a new reader.

 “We encourage the community to get involved and if they have books we would much rather see them in our boxes than in the trash can,” said Aparicio.

Collection boxes have sprung up across California and with the company’s recent expansion into the Los Angeles area there are roughly 200 blue dispensers in communities down the state. For those with large donations Discover Books will organize curbside pickups and the company also has relationships with libraries to relieve them of surplus worn and torn books.

“We also work with various institutions to either provide books or take away the discards,” said Aparicio.

Better quality used books are also sold online.

For those interested in donating to Discover Books, the three collection drop boxes are located at 3000 Countryside Dr., 2901 Geer Rd., and 3303 Entertainment Way.

“We would be more than happy to set up a collection or if there is an organization that needs books we would be happy to establish a partnership,” said Aparicio.

Those interested in contacting Discover Books can call 1-888-402-BOOK or email the company on their website by accessing www.discover books.com