Posts tagged Mo Willems

Happy Friendiversary!!

Feb27
2013 1 Comment Gina Rullo Written by Gina Rullo

Mo Willems celebrating Friendiversary with 2nd graders at Peck & First BookThe spirit of friendship and the power of reading were in full force at Peck Full Service Community School, a Title I School in Holyoke, MA, yesterday.

The school eagerly awaited the arrival of beloved children’s author and illustrator, Mo Willems: Elephant and Piggie posters decorated the hallways and windows of the school while the receptionist tried her hand at sketching the characters, and every available Mo Willems book was checked out of the school library.

Click here to see Mo celebrating Friendiversary!

As second-grade students entered the library to celebrate Friendiversary with Mo Willems himself, costumed Elephant and Piggie characters greeted the students at door. After a grand entrance, Mo read two of his books – There Is A Bird on Your Head! and I Am Invited To a Party! He then conducted a Q&A with the second graders who asked him all sorts of questions. “Why did you work for Cartoon Network?” asked one of the students. “Do you have a pet pigeon?” asked another.

Elephant & Piggie celebrating Friendiversary with Mo Willems, Peck & First BookMo then informed the second graders that they would each be taking home their very own Friendiversary book and the library erupted with deafening screams of excitement. Students immediately began opening their books, each of which were personally signed by Mo. Smiles were on every face and many were sharing and showing their books to friends.

Friendiversary doesn’t have to be celebrated in February, it can be celebrated at any time of the year! Here’s how you can throw your very own Friendiversary party:

  • Get Friendiversary books for the second grade students in your program.
  • Invite everyone to a party!
  • Read together with friends and celebrate Friendiversary, an annual celebration of friendship and reading.

At First Book, we love celebrating Friendiversary each year, partly because we love Mo Willems, but mostly because it’s one more way to get new, quality books into the hands of kids in need, and seeing those kids become excited readers is what we’re all about.

Happy Friendiversary!

Posted in Authors & Illustrators, Education, First Book Events, Literacy - Tagged , , , ,

Help Second Graders Celebrate Friendiversary with New Books!

Feb13
2013 Gina Rullo Written by Gina Rullo

For the third year in a row, our friend Mo Willems, beloved children’s author & illustrator, will be providing brand-new Elephant & Piggie books and activity kits to kids in need!

Friendiversary collection & activity kit available through First BookThe books and activity kits will go to second grade students in New Orleans, Springfield and Holyoke, Mass. (These places have special meaning for Mo; he grew up in New Orleans and now resides in Massachusetts.)

Mo’s Elephant & Piggie characters inspired First Book to create Friendiversary, an annual  celebration of friendship and reading.  After all, who better exemplifies the meaning of friendship than Elephant & Piggie?

You can help second-graders across the country celebrate Friendiversary on Feb. 26!  Click here to donate.

For every $33 donated, 10 second grade students will receive their own Mo Willems books and activity kits for the celebration.

Happy Friendiversary!

Posted in Authors & Illustrators, First Book Events, First Book Supporters - Tagged , , ,

Happy Friendiversary! Mo Willems and First Book Join Forces to Bring New Books to New Orleans Kids

Feb07
2012 Brian Minter Written by Brian Minter

Happy Friendiversary! From your friends at First Book

Today is Friendiversary, when we celebrate the anniversary of our friendships. Think of one of your oldest and dearest friends. When did you first meet? How did you meet? That story is the story of your Friendiversary.

First Book is celebrating Friendiversary this week by providing 7,000 new Elephant & Piggie books to second-graders at Title I schools in Louisiana and Massachusetts. The Elephant & Piggie series is written and illustrated by our friend Mo Willems, whose support makes it possible for First Book able to provide these books. Every book includes a special Friendiversary note from Mo, and his publisher, Disney Publishing Worldwide, is also providing activity kits, stickers and posters free of charge to each classroom.

In fact, we’re so delighted with the Friendiversary kit that we also made it available to all the schools and programs in First Book’s national network.

There are Friendiversary parties happening in classrooms and programs all over today … or tomorrow, or last weekend. We’re pretty flexible on when you actually celebrate Friendiversary.

A Friendiversary party at James Singleton Charter School in New OrleansThe biggest party we’ve heard about so far took place in New Orleans, at James Singleton Charter School. (Mo grew up in New Orleans, and has a special place in his heart for New Orleans kids, so making sure they all had copies of his books was important to him.)

Lynetta Rhodes, the chair of the local First Book volunteer group in New Orleans, organized the party. “I love to see the community come together for our children,” she said. “You should have seen their faces light up when they saw Elephant and Piggie!”

Lynetta sent us some great pictures, and filled us in on all the details:

  • Every student got two copies of Mo’s books to keep, including There’s a Bird On Your Head, Are You Ready to Play Outside?, Today I Will Fly and Should I Share My Ice Cream?. (“I can’t believe I got two books!” one of the students told Lynetta).
  • There were all kinds of local celebrity guests on hand to read with the kids, including New Orleans city councilmember Susan Guidry, children’s author Robin Washington, Louisiana State Rep. Wesley Bishop and TV reporter Rosa Flores.
  • There was plenty of ice cream.

A Friendiversary party at James Singleton Charter School in New Orleans“The children looked adorable in their ‘Elephant and Piggie’ ears and the costumed characters made the kids shout with glee,” said local author Dianne de Las Casas, the MC for the event. “Friendiversary at James Singleton Charter School was a great success.”

Happy Friendiversary, everyone!

If you work with kids from low-income families, you can be a part of Friendiversary and other great events and opportunities throughout the year. Sign up with First Book to find out how we can help you get new books for your kids.

Posted in Advisory Boards, Authors & Illustrators, Book Recipients, Books & Reading, First Book Events, Volunteers - Tagged , , , , , ,

It’s Almost Friendiversary! Get Your Books Today!

Jan04
2012 Brian Minter Written by Brian Minter

Happy Friendiversary! From your friends at First Book

We see that you have a sad face, because the holidays are over. Luckily, you are as wrong as you could possibly be, because the biggest, best, most excellent, excitingest, fanciest, greatest holiday of them all is on its way.

Friendiversary!

Yes! It’s true! Friendiversary 2012 will happen on Feb. 7! Or, maybe Feb. 8. Really, any day that week is fine, because Friendiversary is all about doing things in the best way possible.

A Friendiversary, of course, is the anniversary of a friendship. Think of one of your oldest and dearest friends. When did you first meet? How did you meet? That story is the story of your Friendiversary.

It’s almost Friendiversary! Get your books from First Book today!We celebrated the first annual Friendiversary last year with our friend Mo Willems, author and illustrator of the Elephant & Piggie books. Mo wanted to do something special for some of the kids in New Orleans (where he grew up) and Springfield, Mass. (near where he lives now), so he helped us give brand-new Elephant & Piggie books to every second-grader in those cities. Thanks, Mo!

It went so well that we’re doing it again this year, and we’ve opened the celebration up to EVERYONE in the First Book network. So any teacher or program leader from any of the 27,000 local schools and programs we work with can get their very own Friendiversary Kit – a big box filled with Elephant & Piggie books (40 copies of four different Elephant & Piggie titles), plus all kinds of cool Friendiversary stuff.

Check out the awesome Friendiversary Kit here.

It’s almost Friendiversary! Get your books from First Book today!(Be sure to place your order right away, because it will take a few weeks to get them to you, and we want everything to get there in time.)

If you work with kids from low-income families, but you’re not part of the First Book network (or if you know someone who fits that description), it is definitely not to late to get in on this. Just sign up with First Book (it’s free, and takes about five minutes) and you’re eligible to join the party.

And if you want to help bring a Friendiversary Kit to a school or program in your community that works with kids from low-income families, we can make it happen. Just give us a call at 800-READ-NOW or email help@firstbook.org.

Happy Friendiversary!

Posted in Authors & Illustrators, Book Recipients, Books & Reading, First Book Events, Marketplace, Teachers - Tagged , ,

The Story of First Book

Feb07
2011 Brian Minter Written by Brian Minter

A collection of our favorite authors and illustrators sat down to help us tell the story of First Book:

The Story of First Book from First Book on Vimeo.

Posted in Authors & Illustrators, Books & Reading - Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Happy Friendiversary!

Feb01
2011 Brian Minter Written by Brian Minter

The First Book Friendiversary Celebration

Today is the first annual First Book Friendiversary! We are very excited.

A Friendiversary, of course, is the anniversary of a friendship. Think of one of your oldest and dearest friends. When did you first meet? How did you meet? That story is the story of your Friendiversary.

To celebrate Friendiversary, First Book teamed up with Mo Willems, the author of some truly terrific books for kids and a good friend of ours. Mo wanted to do something special for some of the kids in New Orleans (where he grew up) and Springfield, Mass. (near where he lives now). So today, thousands of 2nd-graders in those two cities are getting their very own copy of one of Mo’s ‘Elephant & Piggie‘ books – and celebrating with Friendiversary parties in their classrooms.

We are big fans of both Mo’s award-winning work and his generosity, and we were proud to be able to help him get these books to the kids in those schools. To mark the occasion, we even had a Friendiversary celebration of our own. You can see some photos below. The ‘Pig’ team won the dance competition, but the ‘Elephant’ team has vowed to practice hard and take the prize next year.

We’ll share some stories from the kids as soon as we hear them. In the meantime, we’d love to hear your own Friendiversary stories. We know you have some good ones. Share them with us in the comments section below, or on our Facebook page.
First Book staffers celebrate Friendiversary
First Book staffers celebrate Friendiversary
First Book staffers celebrate Friendiversary

Posted in Around the First Book Office, Authors & Illustrators, Book Distributions, Books & Reading - Tagged , , , , ,

Ten Cool Things First Book Did in 2010

Jan06
2011 Brian Minter Written by Brian Minter

Ten Cool Things First Book Did in 2010

2010 was a big year for First Book, and we couldn’t have done it without you. Thanks to our friends, fans, and generous supporters, we have a lot to celebrate.

Here are some of the cool things you helped make possible this past year:

We Reached the Milestone of 80 Million Books
At our annual Book Bash fund-raiser in New York City, we handed a basket of books to Round the Clock Nursery. One of the books in that basket was the 80 millionth book that First Book has distributed to kids in need since our founding in 1992.

We Shared the Stage With World Leaders
Kyle Zimmer, our president and co-founder, spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Kyle discussed the impact and importance of the First Book Marketplace as a leading model for social entrepreneurship.

We Worked in Our Local Communities
Local First Book volunteer groups (known as Advisory Boards) in cities, towns and counties nationwide helped distribute $3 million worth of new books to kids in their communities.

We Teamed Up With ‘Reading is Fundamental’
First Book and Reading is Fundamental (RIF) joined forces to provide 600,000 new books to children in RIF programs across the country.

We Added New Books to Our Marketplace
We added lots of great new titles to our online Marketplace – including authors like Eric Carle, Jeff Kinney, Susan Meddaugh, Mo Willems and many others – so teachers and program leaders have even more choices.

We Got People to See Waiting for “Superman”
First Book was excited to kick off the pledge campaign as a promotional partner for this powerful documentary film.

We Released Special Editions
First Book continued one of our favorite traditions this year, releasing several new special editions, including Mo Willems’ Elephant & Piggie books and Eileen Spinelli’s ‘While You Are Away’.

We Distributed One Million Books With Target
To celebrate the launch of the ‘Read With Me’ campaign, Target helped us distribute one million new books to schools across the country. When a million people pledge to commit to read with a child, Target will provide another million books.

We Read a Lot of Short Stories
Volunteers from First Book’s local Advisory Boards read nearly 8,000 stories submitted through the Cheerios® New Author Contest in order to pick the top 25. That’s more than twice as many submissions as last year!  (Check back in March to read the winning entry).

We Helped Kids Learn About Science and Math
Working with Lockheed Martin, First Book started a new Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) section in our Marketplace, featuring books, educational materials and other resources for teachers.

We Rode the Book Bus
Our friends at Bess the Book Bus distributed over 36,000 new books to kids everywhere on their nationwide tour, and put smiles on more than a few young faces in the process.

We Helped Feed America
First Book joined up with Feeding America to distribute 250,000 new books at 25 of their food banks, reaching some of the kids who need our help the most.

To all our hard-working volunteers, our tremendous corporate, nonprofit partners and publishing partners, our generous donors and – most importantly – the kids who take our books home and read them and come back for more, we wish you a happy New Year!

PS – If you are counting, there are actually twelve items on this list. We did so many cool things this year that it was difficult to narrow it down.

Posted in Advisory Boards, Authors & Illustrators, Book Distributions, Book Recipients, First Book Partners, Marketplace, STEM - Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

First Book at the American Library Association Conference

Jun30
2010 Erica Perl Written by Erica Perl

One of the great things about working at First Book is how wonderfully supportive our many partners and friends are of the work we do.  We regularly hear from authors who say, “How can I support First Book’s efforts?”  So regularly, in fact, that we will be rolling out some exciting opportunities for authors and illustrators to get involved with First Book on a wide variety of levels.

In addition, we realized that because the American Library Association annual conference was being held in Washington, DC this year, we had a rare opportunity to reach out to many of our author friends to provide an opportunity to support us that did not involve any hassles, expenses or travel (unless you could crossing a street).  We created what we aptly named “The First Book Shameless Promotion Chamber” and we rolled out the red carpet.  To our delight, over twenty five of our favorite authors and illustrators came to participate in the project and gave it their all.  We were touched to hear a Newbery medal winner say, “I want to work with First Book!”  We were also honored when our literacy statistics moved more than one author to tears and consternation.  And we were rolling on the floor when two accomplished and well known authors turned on their considerable charm and humor simultaneously.

We’ll unveil the wonderful results of our video shoot soon, but here are a few candid shots to tide you over:

We are externally grateful to the talented and eloquent author and illustrators, as well as the kind and accommodating publicists who arranged their appearances.  It may have been shame-LESS, but we all had a wonder-FUL time promoting First Book.

Posted in Around the First Book Office, Authors & Illustrators, Books & Reading, First Book Events, General, Literacy - Tagged , , , , ,

Odds and Bookends: February 19

Feb19
2010 Written by Katie B.

Ready, Set, Answer; Trivia quiz show promotes reading
Oregon Second and Third grade students compete in the Battle of the Books program, a reading quiz competition and incentive to encourage reading.

Found in Books
AbeBooks.com shares the oddities that people have found in books they have purchased. Items range from the literary to the absurd and have included teeth, money, and bacon!

Henry Sutton’s top 10 unreliable narrators
“From Huck Finn to Holden Caulfield and Humbert Humbert, the novelist provides an entirely trustworthy guide to some of literature’s slipperiest characters.”

Catching up with children’s author Mo Willems
The Houston Chronicle caught up with Mo Willems, author of two new books for silly people, Cat the Cat Who Is That? and Let’s Say Hi to Friends Who Fly!, to find out if he is silly too.

Cursive is, like, so last century
The San Jose Mercury News finds that while teens are more and more adept at texting and typing, old-fashioned cursive is a dying form of communication.

Posted in Authors & Illustrators, Books & Reading, Literacy Links and Articles - Tagged , , , , , ,

The Eric Carle Museum Announces 2009 CARLE HONORS RECIPIENTS

Sep11
2009 Written by Joan S.

Butterfly from The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Copyright © 1969 and 1987 by Eric Carle.

Butterfly from The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Copyright © 1969 and 1987 by Eric Carle.

The Eric Carle Museum Announces 2009 CARLE HONORS RECIPIENTS with our own Kyle Zimmer among them, and opens the 2nd Annual Art Auction in support of this Benefit Gala event.

This year’s recipients of the coveted Carle Honors Awards include the influential artist Alice Provensen, whose collaborations with her late husband Martin earned them both Caldecott and Newbery medals; Kyle Zimmer, who founded First Book, an organization that has provided more than 65 million new books to tens of thousands of organizations that help children in poverty; the legendary publisher Walter Lorraine, who shepherded many authors to distinguished awards; and Blouke and Marianne Carus, a husband and wife team who founded the groundbreaking children’s literary publishing company that includes CRICKET magazine.

The recipients will be honored on Thursday, September 24th at 6:00 pm at the Midtown Loft & Terrace at 267 5th Avenue in New York City. A limited number of tickets are still on sale, available by calling 413-658-1104.

But how can you help from afar? Check out the second annual Art Auction featuring original works donated by some of the industry’s most celebrated children’s picture book artists, such as Eric Carle, Tomie dePaola, David Macaulay and Chris Van Allsburg. New this year will be the first annual Carle Honors poster created by Mo Willems, who will be on hand to sign. The poster, a gift to any gala guest who makes a $40 donation to the Museum, stars Willems’ popular characters Elephant and Piggie in a comic moment of artistic fervor.

Visit www.carlemuseum.org/carlehonors/auction to view all entries. The artwork and the poster will also be on display at Books of Wonder, 18 West 18th Street in Manhattan, beginning with a free reception open to the public on September 10 from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm.

Posted in Authors & Illustrators, Books & Reading - Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,
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