History and Scope

History of Books of Hope

In March of 1999, Anika Nailah, a writer who was living in Somerville, Massachusetts, developed the idea for the Books of Hope Program. Nailah believed in the passionate intelligence of young people and recognized their need to express all the thoughts and feelings they kept inside. She proposed the idea to Florence "Fluffy" Bergman, Program Director of the Mystic Learning Center of the Mystic Housing Development in Somerville. Bergman saw the potential of the program and approached the Somerville Arts Council with the idea; the SAC enthusiastically came on board and offered seed money to help launch the project. BOH has been running successfully ever since.

Program Components

The program offers weekly workshops from September through June, producing (2) 16-week units. For each unit the program is adapted and structured to fit the needs of participating youth but the program features all or some of the following learning strategies:

Creative visualization
editor partnering
drama
storytelling games
journal writing
roundtable writing workshop format (for critique)
original book cover illustration
reading young adult literature
event planning (book parties, author events, etc.)
Internet communication
interviewing
creative thinking activities
book planning/writing
publishing-related job experience
author exhibits
soliciting publicity
book sales/marketing/promotion