It’s not easy for Michael, now 13 and chief of the Roving Reader Leaders, to let go of his kids’ books.
But today, for the second time, we gathered up some of our favorites and donated them to the Children’s Book Bank, based in Portland.
Among them were some of our favorite kids’ dog books. They include Nate the Great (You can see Nate the Great and the Mushy Valentine at the top of the book pile), some Scooby-Doo books and others.
When Michael was younger, he reviewed numerous Nate the Great, Scooby-Doo and other kids’ books on YouTube, including Scooby-Doo and the Zombie’s Treasure. That led to his appearance on the Today Show at the age of five.
Letting go of these treasured kids’ books was difficult, but we felt it was important to ensure other kids have a chance to read them.
This was the second time we donated to the Children’s Book Bank. The first time, in March, we donated about 40 Bash and Lucy picture books, along with hundreds of used books and learned about the organization’s mission.
The non-profit organization provides books for children in need, through organizations such as Head Start.
“In low-income neighborhoods, the ratio of books to children is one book for every 300 children. Middle-income neighborhoods average 13 age-appropriate books per child,” we learned from the book bank’s website.
Recently, the book bank merged with SMART Reading, which is a nonprofit children’s literacy organization serving kids in Oregon’s highest need schools with one-on-one reading time and access to books. Across the state, SMART Reading gives away more than 140,000 books each year. Its volunteers read with Pre-Kindergarten through third-grade children, building confidence and literacy skills. (In fact, Michael’s big sis, Ally, who appears in our latest book and is a our voice-over artist for our audiobooks, volunteered for SMART Reading as a high schooler).
We were excited to donate our beloved books to such important organizations.
As always, our aim is to inspire kids to read more. Right now, Michael and I lead a Roving Reader Leaders book club weekly at a local library.
Watch the video trailer for the Roving Reader Leaders, which features Michael and friends–age 5-12–gushing about their favorite books:
Be sure to check out the Children’s Book Bank and SMART Reading!