Reading, First Book, and Our Holiday Donation

We Teaching Authors are celebrating the holidays by sharing something important to all of us: books! And you can help!

My sisters and I all learned to read before we started school. We grew up with books. One of the earliest I can remember is a gem called The Color Kittens by Margaret Wise Brown, best known for the classic Goodnight, Moon.

Two kittens named Brush and Hush “liked to mix and make colors by splashing one color into another.” Timeless illustrations by Alice and Martin Provensen show the kittens, dressed in striped overalls and matching hats, with their “buckets and buckets of color.” They mix red with white, yellow with red, red with blue, and finally blue with yellow.

“O wonderful kittens! O Brush! O Hush!” This line stuck with me through the years, and when I found a scribbled-up copy of the book at a rummage sale several years ago, I was delighted to read it again.

Overjoyed with the colors they make, the kittens paint everything around them. At night, they dream

“A wonderful dream
Of a rose red tree
That turned all white

When you counted three. . . .
Of a purple land
In a pale pink sea
Where apples fell
From a golden tree”

Yes, my sisters and I grew up with The Color Kittens and The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins, Madeline and Pippi Longstocking, Angelo the Naughty One and Caps for Sale.

But not every child is so lucky.

Millions of kids have no books in their homes. First Book is trying to change that by providing books to children in need. We believe, as Bookmark, the First Book Blog says, that “a solid, comprehensive education is the best chance many of those kids have at succeeding in life.” Reading is the vital first step.

How can you help? By posting a comment on our blog. For every comment we receive (one per person, please, and spam doesn’t count), we’ll donate $1 to First Book. We’ll keep track of comments from now until the end of the year, we'll post periodic updates, and we’ll donate up to $225. Every $2.50 donated provides a brand-new book to a child in need. And through Dec. 31, Disney Publishing Worldwide will match every $1 donated with another new book.

So help our donation add up! Post one comment on any of our posts from now through December 31. Tell us about your first book, your child’s or grandchild’s first book, why you believe children should have their own books, or your own First Book donation. Then help us spread the word!

Happy holidays!

JoAnn Early Macken