Donate a book on software freedom to your library by 14 February

In December O'Reilly published the German version of our book "Ada & Zangemann - A Tale of Software, Skateboards and Raspberry Ice Cream". After a few days it was already sold out at the publisher, we are now on our third reprint and were happy about the many positive reviews and letters. For example:

Together with illustrator Sandra Brandstätter, the author has succeeded in creating a technoid fairy tale with a contemporary moral. -- Basler Zeitung

The IT fairy tale we need -- Golem.de

With "Ada & Zangemann" the president of the FSFE presents a children's book that has all the makings of an open source bestseller - from the captivating plot to the charming illustrations to the basic message that is as easy to understand as it is profound. -- Linux Magazin

Kirschner's book introduces readers young and old to the power and peril of software. -- Vint Cerf - Computer Scientist and one of the inventors of the internet (after reading the English translation).

"A rousing tale of self-reliance, community and standing up to bullies, no matter how powerful they may be. Software freedom is human freedom!" -- Cory Doctorow - Sci-fi author

As you see in the last quote, we are currently looking for a suitable publisher for an English translation licensed under Creative Commons, as we would like to enable as many people as possible to read the book in their mother tongue and asks for donations for its work.

An important goal with the book is to reach children whose parents have not heard about the book or cannot afford to buy their children a book for 16,90 €. (Due to the Creative Commons licensing, after buying the digital version, you can pass it on).

That is why I was very happy when some of you wrote to me in the last weeks that you donated a book to your library.

Can you help us to make sure that as many children as possible will have access to the printed book on "I Love Free Software" day on 14 February via a public library or the school, youth club, hackerspace or repair café in your area?

If so, please order the book from your local bookstore or directly from the publisher via this affiliate link (12% goes to FSFE).

From our experience it's best to bring the book to the institution in person. The advantage: in personal contact with the institutions, you can talk to the people there about software freedom after donating the book. For example, a library in Berlin asked me if we could organise an event on free software together.

If you do not have much time, but want to support us to ensure that many children and young people around the world can learn about software freedom, please make a donation to the FSFE.

Thanks to all of you who have already given the book to children around you, recommended it to others in personal conversations or online, or rated it -- or will do so in future.

Your support ensures that more children will have access to the printed book "Ada & Zangemann" and that they will be able to start using technology in a self-determined way.

PS: For transparency, I wrote the text on a voluntary basis for the FSFE. All author revenues go directly to the charitable Free Software Foundation Europe. The FSFE paid the illustrator Sandra Brandstätter and the children's book editor Wiebke Helmchen for their work. Linuxhotel GmbH made the project possible by already agreeing at the beginning of the writing process to buy 1000 copies once the book was finished.