August was a busy month for Big House Books!

We returned to the Mississippi Book Festival for the first time since 2019. It was so great to meet fellow book lovers and literacy advocates from all over the state! We received enough donations to send more than 200 packages of books. That’s more than 600 books in the hands of incarcerated Mississippians! Woohoo!!

Our last book packing party of the month saw a record 15 volunteers! Some of these were first-timers and included teens and adults. They filled two carts of requests and sent another four USPS boxes of packages to the post office. We ended the month strong with a total of 510 books sent to Mississippi prisons!

We were able to fit in one last event before the closeout of the month. Thanks to Holly, Vidhi, and Miranda for working the Graphic Teas and Chill Market presented by Magnolia Sunset Markets & Jackson Flea. We received enough donations to cover the postage for an additional 100 books!

August would not have been a success without the help of our amazing volunteers and donors! To those who helped staff our table at events, bought merch, donated money to our postage fund, and to our first-time volunteers and seasoned volunteers — THANK YOU! Your support keeps us going every month. Together, we are changing the lives of Mississippi’s under-served populations.

We sent out over 240 packages this month, and many of those were thanks to a wonderful group of Millsaps students who hosted their own book packing party this month. Thanks to Dr. Stephanie Rolph and long-time BHB volunteer Rachel Glazer for heading up that BPP.

We have also changed our weekly book packing parties to Thursdays from 5-7 p.m. for the remainder of the summer. As always, if you can’t make Thursdays, message us and we can arrange for you to host your own BPP!

Thank you to all who have donated adult coloring books, planners, etc. from our updated Needs List. We have the most generous donors, and I know those we serve appreciate it.

Catch us at the Mississippi Book Festival on August 20th. We’ll have volunteer opportunities for that day, so stay tuned for signup opportunities.

Join us on Thursdays from 5-7 p.m. for the remainder of the summer. We will resume our Sunday parties in the fall. See you there!

We had a great month with 3 new volunteers and over 240 books sent out to Mississippi prisons!

Starting in July, we will have one weeknight volunteer session each month. This will be in addition to our Sunday book packing parties that we have every week. If you can’t make one of our prescheduled volunteer days, feel free to host your own book packing party at your convenience. Reach out to Miranda at miranda@bighousebooksms.org to schedule a time that works for you. 

We will be taking off this Sunday, July 3rd for the holiday, but we hope you’ll join us for our first weeknight volunteer session on Thursday, July 7th from 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. We’ll be back next Sunday from 12 p.m. – 2 p.m. as well! 

 Big House Books is hiring!
We are looking for an independent contractor to assist with the day-to-day activities of Big House Books. This position is 4-10 hours per week and is flexible. The pay is $15/hr. The position is hybrid– some tasks must be done on-site at our office in Midtown Jackson.

Contractor reports to the BHB Board of Directors. 

Responsibilities include hosting one volunteer session per week, various administrative duties, managing and scheduling volunteers, updating our social media, sending out email blasts, and maintaining a clean and orderly office space. 

Tools we use: Mail Chimp, WordPress, Google Calendar, Google Drive, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter


BHB does not discriminate based on gender identity/expression, race, disability status, criminal background, or education background. Anyone who is passionate about our mission is welcome to apply. Preference will be given to existing volunteers. 

To apply, please send us an email at bighousebooksms@gmail.com. Tell us about how you connect to our mission, your schedule, and what your goals are. 

Thank you for your interest! 

Our needs often change, but the following are books we can always use more of and are always accepting! They must be clean and paperback only.

African History 

African American History

Native American

Adult Coloring Books

Almanacs

Bibles (especially large print)

Bible Dictionaries

Concordances

Nonfiction

LGBTQ

Graphic Novels 

Manga / Anime

Urban Fiction 

Work Out / Fitness 

Current year daily/weekly/monthly planners

Business / Finance / Wealth Building 

Biography – celebrities, famous Black figures 

Dean Koontz

Terri Blackstock

Puzzle Books (Soduko, word search, crosswords) 

Gardening/Homesteading

Dictionaries

Fantasy Novels (we get lots of requests for the Game of Thrones series)

Real Estate 

Skills and Trade Books (plumbing, HVAC, Carpentry Home Building,  etc , anything DIY) 

Cars / Motorcycles 

Music 

Art – how to draw, etc (not books of art) 

Crafts – how to

Foreign Language

Dan Brown

Greg Isles

James Patterson

GED study guides

Self-Help Legal

Law Dictionaries

Sketch Books

Self-Publishing Music and Books

Wicca / Pagan Mythology 

Occult / New Age

Stephen King

Astrology

Paranormal / Conspiracy 

Numerology

Ancient history/ancient civilizations/ religions.

Westerns, all the popular authors:

V C Andrews

Nora Roberts

Anne Rice

Karen Kingsbury

CDL study guides

Zane