Books

Harry Potter Alliance's Accio Books! Campaign

If you're a Potterhead looking for a good cause to support, you won't find much better than the Harry Potter Alliance's Accio Books! campaign. The eighth-annual event will donate books and school supplies to the rural Good Shepherd School in Masaka, Uganda. This year's Accio Books! campaign is part of a partnership between HPA and a number of other organizations, including Books for Africa, the Literate Earth Project, and the American Library Association.

The Masaka HPA chapter helped to build Good Shepherd School last year. Now, the school wants to add a library, and this year's Accio Books! campaign aims to stock the shelves. Anyone interested in participating can pledge online to meet their Wizard Activist Goals. These include collecting books for donation, relating the importance of libraries to lawmakers, and World Book Night plans.

Participants may also compete in the House Cup, which turns book donations and other events into points-worthy achievements. Donating a book about a person of color or an LGBTQIA individual will earn your house 10 points, as will recruiting a friend or family member to help. Give 175 books or more, and you'll score an extra 50 points, plus a free Luna glasses printable. Writing your congressman and attending a World Book Day event are each worth 100 points.

Of course, if you have a local charity, library, or shelter in need, Accio Books! won't penalize you for donating to that cause instead. You can still report your donations on the House Cup form, and your house will receive 1 point for each book given to a cause other than Good Shepherd School.

So, my fellow Slytherins — and other houses, too, I guess — let's get to work. The Harry Potter Alliance's Accio Books! campaign ends on May 18.

Images: Warner Bros.; Giphy