The 21st annual Calgary Reads Big Book Sale has wrapped up its 10 days of book donations and is gearing up for its 10 days of gently-used book shopping that will kick off May 9 at the Calgary Curling Club. This year, it's all about highlighting Canadian authors.

"We always have a lot of the new Canadian novels that are popular because they were featured in Canada Reads or the Giller Prize, but we also have so many of those classics that maybe you always meant to read and just never got around to it," says Shirley McIntyre, lead of the sale's fiction section.

Organizers expect to have more than 200,000 books donated this year. Last year, there were more than 14,000 book lovers who purchased books raising $570,000 to support early literacy initiatives such as Book Bank, YW Calgary, Families Matter, Can Learn and the Learning Disabilities Association.

"What a difference we can make in ensuring more children can read by Grade 3 and experience the joy of having their very own books," says Steacy Pinney, chair of the Rotary Club Early Childhood Literacy Committee which stewards the book sale and distributes proceeds.

For those with a bookworm mom, be sure to make an appointment if you plan to take her during Mother's Day weekend. May 9-11 are by appointment only, and once you're done perusing and ready to purchase your new reads, there will be a $3-$5 event fee added to your order at checkout. From May 12-15 anyone can walk in, and those who wait until May 16-19 can take advantage of the buy-one-get-one deal, or fill a box for $20.

In terms of overall prices, most children's books are $2 and most adult books are $4.