"Having books at home is just as important as having them in school. Reading should be a family affair--something that’s done for pleasure and not treated simply as an assignment.... I believe everyone can help the children in their communities learn--and love--to read.... Reading is the basic springboard for learning. And books provide the lift-off. They are the great equalizer, opening up new worlds to everyone. What could be more important than helping a third-grader learn and love to read--before it's too late?
--Mary Pope Osborne, author of more than 100 books for children, in a recent column for the Star-Ledger chronicling her work with First Book, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center and the Newark public school system. Osborne donated a mini-library of "Magic Tree House" books to every third-grader in the Newark Public School District (4,300 students each received a boxed set containing 28 titles).