The RSVP Center of Essex and Hudson Counties, a program of JFS MetroWest, is excited to announce it will be the recipient of Barnes & Noble Livingston’s annual Holiday Book Drive. Books collected will benefit RSVP’s Reading Buddies program, which matches older adult volunteers with elementary school students to improve reading comprehension skills.

The Holiday Book Drive takes place through December 31 and provides customers the opportunity to donate books to locally designated non-profit organizations. Barnes & Noble, located at 112 Eisenhower Parkway in Livingston, will be collecting books for Jewish Family Service of MetroWest New Jersey.

“The Holiday Book Drive is a favorite program of both booksellers and customers across the country,” said Tracy Vidakovich, vice president, business development for Barnes & Noble. “Customers often purchase and donate a personal childhood favorite as a way to pass on a holiday tradition to a child in their local community.”

Reading Buddies introduces the love of books and increases literacy in young children. Early literacy is linked with academic achievement, higher graduation rates and enhanced productivity in adult life. Julie Cramer, RSVP program manager, commented, “Reading Buddies is a unique program that connects children and volunteers through books. The older adults read to the children every week throughout the school year, forming a warm relationship based on the love of reading.” The program has been shown to be very effective in helping to increase literacy, reading comprehension and vocabulary in children grades K-2.