LOS ANGELES — As the host of the weekly literary podcast "The Stacks," Traci Thomas knows how important books can be. In the aftermath of January's wildfires, the attention focused on the immediate needs: food, shelter and clothing. But soon after, she recognized another necessity: getting books back into the hands of fire victims.

It is why this past weekend, Thomas helped organize the Stack the Shelves pop-up event. More than 200 fire-impacted families from the Eaton and Palisades fires pre-registered to peruse through stacks and take home brand-new books for all ages, in English and Spanish. 

“I know how important it is, especially for young people to have a book to read every night," Thomas said. "I know how important it is to be able to return to favorites and to, you know, escape a little bit or find solace, find comfort.”

In addition to new books, each family received a care bag full of donated items from 300 brands, as well as a gift card to Octavia’s Bookshelf, a Black-owned bookstore in Pasadena that became a mutual-aid site in the weeks immediately following the fire.

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