Chips on a Sandwich | no. 15 | BOOK CLUB
“The America I love still exists at the front desks of our public libraries.” – Kurt Vonnegut
SIPPING ONCE, SIPPING TWICE: The impetus for this week's newsletter comes from the Carol King and Maurice Sendak musical cartoon collaboration for the book Chicken Soup with Rice: A Book of Months. (I showed it to my young son, and he wasn't impressed-- but I'm not giving up!) I have the fondest memory of both the book and the cartoon which got me to thinking about all the books I loved growing up and how I found them...
READING RAINBOW: I can be anything | Take a look | It's in a book | A reading rainbow. I love Levar Burton and I LOVED the PBS show Reading Rainbow. (It ran for 23 years!) I can picture a dimmed classroom and watching Mr. Burton take us on book adventures. Who else remembers Borreguita and the Coyote, The Paper Crane or Just Us Women? And Levar Burton is back in the reading game-- he launched a live story reading series this past April.
BOOK IT!: There's no inspiration quite like a free personal pan pizza. Started in 1984 by Pizza Hut's then president Book It! was developed to encourage kids to read-- 1 in 5 American kids read books to collect golden stars to adorn their Book It! button pins. Earn 5 stars and cash in on a free pizza. I was obsessed with my pin. It was holographic and I wore it proudly on my stone washed jean jacket. The program is still going and you can find vintage pins on eBay.
DOLLY PARTON'S IMAGINATION LIBRARY: I admit I did not grow up with the Imagination Library but over 1.6M kids have received over 143M books to date. Dolly Parton's dad couldn't read so she started the Imagination Library in his honor. Free books are sent to children from birth to age 5. Just another reason to love her. (If you haven't already listened to the podcast series Dolly Parton's America then subscribe today.)
POLL: Amelia Bedelia or Ramona? (And sadly sweater bet cardigan from last week's poll.)