A couple months ago I asked my high school’s librarian if they carried any books about atheism, secularism, or freethought. She replied that they didn’t, but would be completely open to it.

Finally, two months later I donated four books (as shown in the featured image) to the school’s library. One of my first steps to becoming a secular activist!

Side note– a student in my class noticed my atheist logo on my laptop case and commented on it. Turns out she and her father are atheists and huge fans of popular atheist podcasts…especially The Scathing Atheist and The Skepticrat! She asked me to sponsor a Secular Student Alliance group for next year. Hell yes, I will!

Back to the book story: I met Marissa Alexa McCool at ReasonCon3 in North Carolina, and she signed a copy of her new book! My school has a large than average LGBT population and a few transgender students, so I felt that they may benefit from Marissa’s story.

I felt that the other three selections are pretty tame but very important and relevant. The offer essays and brief biographies about famous historical skeptics, atheists, freethinkers, and scientists. The Susan Jacoby book Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism is excellent and a must-read! Of course, I had to throw in a Hitchens selection!

I will continue to donate from my personal home collection and will buy new books as needed. I lost my copy of Sagan’s A Demon-Haunted World so I ordered a copy to donate to the school library. Very excited!

I anticipate some minor pushback from a few students and/or parents but feel that the school administration and librarian will support me. We shall see.

Hey, at least I didn’t donate my copy of Fuck Jesus, by Judas Peters!