While conducting a signing in Staunton, Virginia, she met Officer Mark Kearney of the Waynesboro Police Department, shown here with p.m.terrell and Robert Trayer, who serves on the Board of Directors of the Central Shenandoah Crime Stoppers.

It occurred to Terrell that if she could raise hundreds of dollars for Crime Stoppers by herself, she could raise even more awareness for the job they perform and even more money for their cause, if she was joined by a few of her author friends.

Officer Kearney took the idea to Chief Doug Davis, who had recently relocated to Waynesboro from Williamsburg, Virginia.

Chief Davis is a very forward-thinking person who loved the idea of the police department hosting an event.

Officer Kearney also took the idea to Lianne Crookshanks, Director of the Department of Tourism in Waynesboro, who in turn took the idea to the City Manager and Mayor.

Everyone was in agreement: a charity book fair was good for the community.

p.m.terrell thought of the title "Book 'Em" while Officer Kearney added the tag line "Buy a Book and Stop a Crook".

About this time, both Kearney and terrell learned of the connection between high illiteracy rates and high crime rates. In Florida, some juvenile court justices had begun requiring juvenile offenders to increase their reading skills. Some forward-thinking authors, such as Agnes Hagen and Charlene Hudgins Klima, were even going into prisons and teaching inmates how to read. In one study, the average reading level of an adult male inmate was below the sixth grade. By teaching prisoners how to read better, they qualified for better paying jobs. And by teaching juvenile offenders reading skills, they could possibly avoid a life of crime altogether.

Officer Kearney asked two literary groups if they would like to participate in Book 'Em -- the Reading Council and Friends of the Library -- joining the Central Shenandoah Crime Stoppers as the three non-profits who would receive proceeds from the event.

terrell sketched a Book 'Em logo and gave it to her good friend, Bonnie Watson, who came up with the design that is now the official Book 'Em logo.

During the planning phase for the first event, which took place on October 23, 2004, p.m.terrell and Officer Kearney received so many inquiries from organizations who wanted to do the same thing that they believed it would be prudent to form a non-profit organization, The Book 'Em Foundation. The mission of The Book 'Em Foundation is to raise awareness of the link between high illiteracy rates and high crime rates, and to work with other non-profits such as the Reading Council and Friends of the Library to increase literacy rates, and with Crime Stoppers to assist police in solving crimes. The 2004-2005 Executive Board of Directors includes Mark Kearney, President; Patricia Terrell, 1st Vice President/ Treasurer, and Laura Maine, 2nd Vice President/ Secretary. Mark and Laura will begin a Literacy Pilot Program in Waynesboro during the summer of 2005. We will have more details on this soon.

In addition, The Book 'Em Foundation has plans underway to work with juvenile court justices in another pilot program that would increase the reading skills of juvenile offenders in the Central Shenandoah region.

All of the money for The Book 'Em Foundation is received through personal donations and fund-raisers. No taxpayer dollars and no government funds are used.

It is the Foundation's goal to increase the attendance and the media coverage of the annual Book 'Em event and raise sufficient funds to aid communities in increasing the literacy rates of both adults and children, to help police reduce crime, and to assist in solving crimes when they do occur.

While Waynesboro, Virginia will always be the birthplace of Book 'Em and the largest event of its type, the Foundation would also like to expand the event into different regions of the country, such as the West Coast and the Midwest and the Deep South, so the Annual Book 'Em Event can take place on the same day each year in multiple areas of the country.