Wednesday, May 18, 2011

New Partnership with Sanibel Writers' Conference

This fall, Kids in Need - Books in Deed is partnering with the Sanibel Writers Conference. Tom Demarchi, the director of the conference, has invited children's book author Laurel Snyder to be on the faculty this fall. In addition to teaching a workshop, giving panel discussions and a reading at the conference, Snyder will visit a Title I school in Fort Meyers area. Snyder will donate her time with the school children and Kids in Need - Books in Deed will be donating a copy of one of her books to every student attending Snyder's presentation.

"This is exactly the kind of programming that we first were hoping for when we started Kids in Need - Books in Deed in 2006," explains Julianna Baggott, a co-founder of the program. "We wanted kids with little access to books and living, breathing writers to have the experience of meeting an author, hearing that author talk about the imagination, and then getting free books into those kids' hands."

Kids in Need -- Books in Deed is looking for more partnership opportunities like this. If you have any ideas, don't hesitate to get in touch!

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Reading Dream donation

Andrea Kantor, founder of Reading Dream, a non-profit organization that sends books and other reading materials to children who need them, recently delivered a shipment of books to Kids in Need - Books in Deed. These books were given to Hartsfield Elementary School Media Specialist Mary Jo Peltier. Hartsfield distributes the books to children throughout the school via "Reading Faeries," older students who volunteer to help pass on a love of reading in their younger schoolmates.
Kantor and other volunteers at Reading Dream want to help children who do not have access to books learn to love to read. By sending children books, they hope to help them on their way to becoming life-long readers.

Nims Middle School Receives Books

Nims Middle School has just received a small shipment of books from Kids in Need - Books in Deed. Medial Specialist Jennifer Mock selected books from the Scholastic Warehouse Sale specifically for her students at Nims. As students approach summer, it's more important than ever to have a great media specialist giving them great books to boost their summer reading.