December 14 - Read A Book. Give A Book.

Take a look at this great way for parents (or grandparents) and children to give back as a family!   My children are in college now, but I would have loved to have used this as a teaching tool when they were younger. (Guess I'll have to wait for the grandkids) We Give Books provides parents and kids the opportunity to spend time together, it also provides the opportunity to teach your children about giving back all while helping your child develop a love for reading!    BEST OF ALL  -  IT'S FREE! 

We Give Books is a free website that enables anyone with access to the Internet to put books in the hands of children who don’t have them, simply by reading online. You simply choose the charity you want to read for and then select the books you want to read. For each book you read online, We  Give Books will donate a book to a leading literacy group on your behalf.  The more you read, the more they give.


First, get started by choosing the literacy organization your own online reading will support. Choose Room to Read, for example, to help support libraries for young people around the world. Select the NEA Foundation's Books Across America program to help stock libraries in need across the United States. You can even support community-based campaigns hosted by local school districts or nonprofits.


One of the aims of We Give Books is to encourage the conversations with your child that will better ensure he or she becomes a life-long giver. As you consider the non-profit organizations from which you can choose, take time to talk through the goals of each charity and your reasons for selecting the one you do. As long as you\'re a member, you can support as many campaigns as you like. We Give Books even keeps track of the books you've donated to each campaign for you.

With your literacy campaign selected, it's time to read.  Select a title from our ever-growing library of great children's books and start reading online with a child in your life. Each time you read a book online, you help give a brand-new hardcover or paperback book from the Penguin and Dorling Kindersley library to the campaign you've selected. Read as many books as you like, as many times as you like.  Every campaign has its own donation goal. Once a campaign you've supported reaches its goal, you and your child will receive a personalized letter of thanks for your effort.


Your reading at We Give Books helps share books with young people who need them. It also helps the great non-profit organizations with whom they've joined forces to support these young people. As a member, you can learn more about the importance of early reading and about the great literacy campaigns supported by We Give Books. If you like, you can also create reading groups, community reading-a-thons, or giving drives.  Your reading - and your giving - can be as social or independent as you want.



Get Involved: 

Sign up at We Give Books and start reading!   For every book you read, We Give Books will donate one book!

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Source:  http://www.wegivebooks.org/

June 30 (Day 122) READ, GIVE, GROW.

Milk + Bookies is a nationwide charitable organization that inspires children to give back, using books as its currency.  Milk + Bookies teaches young children how great it feels to give back, while celebrating the love of a good book. 

At Milk + Bookies events, boys and girls are provided the opportunity to select, purchase and inscribe books that are then donated to their peers who do not have access to books of their own. The fun-filled events feature music, story time and, of course, milk and cookies.

Please visit the Milk + Bookies website for great ideas! Check out the M+B CLASS PROJECT and the M+B BIRTHDAY PARTY . There are instructions and contact information on how you can host your own class project or party.  What a GREAT, FUN way for kids to give back to other kids! I especially like the Birthday Party idea.  As a parent, I remember the birthday parties - each one having to be bigger and better than the last. This idea is awesome... kids getting together to celebrate a birthday and learning about service and giving back! 

Milk + Bookies combines two essential and worthwhile efforts: LITERACY PROMOTION AND SERVICE LEARNING. While the book donations are imperative to our mission, just as important is instilling the seed of giving into each host and their young guests, sparking feelings of importance, self-confidence and the desire to give and give again.


READ, GIVE, GROW.



Donate to Milk + Bookies.
Milk + Bookies on FaceBook.



Source:  Milk and Bookies

April 23 (Day 54) Sheltering Books

When Mackenzie Bearup was diagnosed with a condition that caused her chronic pain, the only thing that took her mind off her pain -- the only escape she could find -- was reading.


And when her pediatrician told her that the nearby Murphy-Harpst Children's Center -- a residential treatment center for Georgia's most severely abused children -- had a library but no books for the children to read, Mackenzie had an idea.


She began collecting books, asking everyone she knew for donations. She even stuffed flyers inside mailboxes, placed newspaper ads and started a Web site. Once the library at Murphy-Harpst was full, Mackenzie found other places that desperately needed books, such as children's homes and homeless and domestic violence shelters.

Mackenzie was only 13 years old when she began collecting childrens books for shelters. Her book drive quickly took off. Today she has collected and donated over 38,000 books to shelters in several states. She's so far donated books for libraries and reading rooms in 27 shelters. And with her mother's help, the teenager launched her official nonprofit -- Sheltering Books -- last year. For her work helping to spread the healing power of reading to disadvantaged kids, Mackenzie has been named a CNN Hero.

"If one homeless or abused child finds a love of reading through books that I've given them, then that will help them in school and just turn their life around entirely," she told CNN. "I really think that reading can do that for someone."

Read the CNN Heroes article about Mackenzie here.

Click here for information on how to donate or collect books for Sheltering Books.  Here is a super easy way you can get your kids involved in helping... Go to the post office and pick up a prepaid flat rate box, go buy a few books or hold your own book drive at work or school and send those books to Mackenzie. 

Wow, I am really amazed at another young person who "does what they can, where they are, with what they have!!"  Mackenzie Bearup.... YOU ROCK!! 
Sources:  Sheltering Books
               Good News Now

March 20 (Day 20) Reach Out and Read

Reach Out and Read (ROR) is an evidence-based nonprofit organization that promotes early literacy and school readiness in pediatric exam rooms nationwide by giving new books to children and advice to parents about the importance of reading aloud. ROR builds on the unique relationship between parents and medical providers to develop critical early reading skills in children, beginning at 6 months of age. The 3.8 million families served annually by ROR read together more often, and their children enter kindergarten better prepared to succeed, with larger vocabularies and stronger language skills.

There are currently Reach Out and Read Programs located in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, and U.S. military bases overseas, and we continue to grow! Reach Out and Read Programs are housed at hospitals, health centers, clinics, and private pediatric practices. To find a program near you click here.

There are dozens of ways that you can support Reach Out and Read's mission today and help ensure that every child arrives at kindergarten ready to read, ready to learn, and ready to succeed. The single most important thing that you can do is to read to your child every day. It's the most effective strategy for developing critical early reading skills in children and promoting school readiness. 

There are many ways you can help... You can become a volunteer reader and read to children, you can donate funds, you can advocate...click here to discover the many opportunities available to help. 


"Children are made readers on the laps of their parents."  — Emilie Buchwald

Source:  Reach Out and Read