First Book and Simon & Schuster are cheering for Heather Henson’s book That Book Woman, recently chosen for the 2010 – 2011 Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List!
Last December, Simon & Schuster and First Book simultaneously released That Book Woman, a story about the 1930’s Pack Horse Librarians who carried books to children in the hard-to-reach Appalachian Mountains. Illustrated by Caldecott award-winning illustrator, David Small, That Book Woman tells the story of a country-loving boy named Cal who lives in the hills and hollows of the Appalachian Mountains. He can plow. He can take care of sheep. He can do just about anything . . . . except . . . read. That is until the Book Woman climbs the mountains in sun, rain, or snow, shining the spotlight on the power of books and turning Cal into a reader.
With a character as cool as Cal, and a story that is both touching and entertaining it is no wonder That Book Woman has made the Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List. During the 2010 – 2011 school year, children across the state of Texas will read books on the Master List and vote for their favorite book. The book with the most votes will receive the Texas Bluebonnet Award. Previous winners include books by some of First Book’s favorite authors, such as Kate DiCamillo’s Because of Winn-Dixie and Jon Scieszka’s Math Curse.
This year, the Master List features books about fantasy, pirates, the deep seas, faraway and not-so faraway lands! The competition may be tight, and the race, close, but we will cross our fingers and hope our little Texan friends vote for That Book Woman to join the list of Texas Bluebonnet Award winners.
First Book is proud to announce that select meteorologists across the country from Boston to Los Angeles participated in The Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Challenge issued by Today meteorologist Al Roker.
The challenge, in celebration of today’s release of the animated movie CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS, generated more than 20,000 assorted new books to First Book organizations serving children in need. NBC-affiliate meteorologists had the opportunity to deliver new books and lead a special story time with the children.
First Book would like to thank Sony Pictures Animation, Columbia Pictures, Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing and television stations across the country for their generosity and commitment to spreading the joy of reading.
And be sure to check out this video of highlighting books provided to kids in Phoenix as part of the Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs Challenge (video opens in Windows Media Player).
NEW JERSEY! The Garden State, The Clam State, The Pathway of Revolution and the lesser known Switzerland of America! Last Monday, three of my First Book colleagues and I traveled north along Interstate 95 to New Jersey, where we experienced many of the state’s nicknames and helped to further the “The Pathway of Revolution” by distributing more than 200,000 new books throughout the Garden State and beyond.
Although we were only there for a short time, we were able to distribute popular books such as Movable Mother Goose by Robert Sabuda and Nature Science by award-winning authors Shar Levine and Leslie Johnstone to over 100 First Book Recipient Groups. Of those groups, more than 20 organizations were able to pick their books up in North Brunswick, New Jersey thanks to the generous donation of warehouse space by Feed the Children, while the remaining groups will have their books shipped right to their programs.
Looking around an empty warehouse after two long days of hard work, it’s hard to believe that the 200,000 books that filled the same space just a few days earlier have been given to groups all around the United States. This change is always humbling, exciting and reminds us that without the tremendous support of our partners – Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, Sterling Publishing Company, the Feed the Children warehouse and numerous KPMG volunteers and their families – we wouldn’t have been able to make such a large impact!
Last week, I travelled with the First Book team to Romeoville, Illinois to distribute over 400,000 books to children across the nation. I was very excited to get my first on-the-ground look at a book distribution from start to finish. The books donated by Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing included approximately seventy different titles, ranging from bath books to bilingual books.
First Book was able to house the books and then prepare them for shipment or pickup to serve groups benefitting children from low-income families thanks to warehouse space donated by Hub One Logistics. An extra special thanks goes out to Manny at the Hub One warehouse who helped ensure that these books ended up in the right hands in a timely fashion.
In addition, I’d like to thank KPMG for supplying volunteers to assist in this large undertaking. Their hard work and enthusiasm made this distribution run with ease and efficiency.
Vehicles of all sizes rolled up to the warehouse where groups received anywhere from four to over two hundred boxes of books. While many recipient groups had books shipped to them, some groups were able to pick up their boxes of books on Tuesday and Wednesday during the distribution at no cost. It was so rewarding to see a recipient’s face light up at the sight of so many boxes of books, knowing how much they would improve the lives of the children they so admirably serve.
