Featured Fridays: First Book
Do you remember your first book? I certainly don't. I've read too many.
I do remember going to the library and checking out stacks and stacks of books. And my sisters teasing me by calling me a bookworm. I wore that moniker proudly and I still do.
I remember owning Charlotte's Web and the entire Little House series. I also remember owning the novelization of Pretty in Pink. I'm sure we must have owned picture books and more. I don't have the books from when I was younger, perhaps my mom gave them away. Mr. Bookworm has a well-loved copy of The Hobbit from his childhood that he read to Mini Me when she was three or four years old. Yup, that early.
Though I still love to go to the library, I love owning copies of my favorite books.
This is where First Book comes in.
First Book is a non-profit organization that aids in distributing books to low income or at-risk communities. They aid in public schools as well as disaster-stricken areas to bring resources like books and supplies to kids in need.
They also support programs like Reach Out and Read, which I was a part of when I was working in a community clinic. The Read Out and Read program gives out books at well child checks for kids ages 6 months to 5 years of age.
Currently, the program that the Bookworm family is going to donate towards is the Disaster/Hurricane relief program. If you follow First Book on Instagram, you'll see that they just donated books directly to those affected in Puerto Rico.
And in my 'research' (Yes, I use the term loosely as I'm not a reporter and I'm not as thorough because time is limited.), I discovered that Disney/ABC is partnering with First Book for a campaign entitled 'The Magic of Storytelling'. Click here for the amazing animation of books with details about their campaign. I'm a storyteller at heart and this campaign sounds right up my alley. Especially when they are discussing introducing kids to inspiring characters. Yes, yes, and YES!
Please note that I realize that First Book is a large non-profit, whereas the other ones I've featured are smaller ones. However, the reason I first started the Dr. Bookworm blog and YouTube videos was to encourage kids to read, especially the ones in the community clinics in which I was working. So First Book is working toward my same goal, on a much larger scale. And I'm excited that they are doing such good work.
Tell Dr. Bookworm!
Do you remember the first book you owned? Or bought with your own money? (I'm a sucker for the book fair at school as well as Scholastic book lists because I remember my mom indulging me on both. We were fortunate to be able to afford extra money for frivolous and not-so-frivolous books. And I'm grateful for that.)
Photo above is our book haul from Lido Village Books earlier this month.
And, yes, I know that it's no longer Friday. But as I literally slept through Christmas and have been working and just trying to keep up with my asthma and asthma med side effects, I'm a little behind. Now that I'm healthy (knock on wood), I'm catching up.
In honor of Macy, I'm doing a Featured Fridays special to highlight non-profit organizations on the nine Fridays leading up to her ninth birthday. It's my countdown for the winter holidays as well as a way of hopefully fundraising a tiny bit for some wonderful organizations. It's the time of GIVING and these are some fantastic places to support.
Look for a new non-profit feature on the Fridays leading up to her birthday in January. Or click here to see the full listings so far.
