Most of us likely take access to something as simple and basic as age appropriate books for granted. It's hard not to when it's an essential you have never personally been without. I grew up with a nice big cabinet of beautiful books to choose from at my home and my kids have had that same opportunity as well.
I'm certain you realize that access to books is essential to reading development. However, did you know that over 80 percent of childcare centers serving low-income children lack age-appropriate books? And a recent study shows that the ratio of books per child in middle income neighborhoods is 13 to 1, while in low-income neighborhoods, the ratio is 1 age-appropriate book for every 300 children.
Clearly this is something that must be addressed. The Cheerios family of cereals, First Book, and Jon Scieszka (author of the popular "Trucktown" series and other children´s books) have joined together to deliver 100,000 books to community-based programs serving children in need.
And they need your help! All you have to do is go online with your child and test your combined knowledge of children´s books by answering trivia questions related to "Trucktown" and other great children´s books.
For every trivia question answered correctly, you can cast one vote for the state you would like to receive books. The five states receiving the most votes will get 20,000 books each, for a total of 100,000 books.
Visit www.FirstBook.org/Scieszka to test your knowledge and start voting.
As extra motivation to our readers for helping with this great cause, we are offering a special gift pack as a giveaway. This gift pack includes an assortment of books from Cheerios, one of the many varieties of Cheerios cereals, and a $25 gift card to Barnes & Noble. This great prize is being provided by Cheerios via MyBlogSpark and I was fortunate enough to receive this same gift pack for review.
While I believe prizes may vary, we received 5 books printed in both English and Spanish text. Among the books were popular titles such as "Tea for Ruby" and "Junkyard Fort: A Trucktown Book". We also were sent frosted Cheerios, which we had never had before. Yummy! And what's not to love about a Barnes and Noble Gift Card?
Enter to Win: Simply visit www.FirstBook.org/Scieszka and answer at least one question correctly then return here to let us know you did so by commenting below.
Optional Additional Entries for:
1 extra entry if you friend FirstBook on Facebook.
1 extra entry if you follow this blog or subscribe to this blog's feed.
1 extra entry if you tweet about this giveaway and include @andtwinsmake5 & @firstbook.
1 extra entry if you blog about this contest and this cause, linking back to it.
Rules:
An email address is required to enter. Please leave it in your comment, or make sure one is visible for me to find in your blogger profile. If you qualify for additional entries please comment separately telling us which options you have used. A winner will be chosen via random.org. The winner will be contacted by email and will have 48 hours to reply before a new winner is chosen. This contest is open to USA only.
Ends on 1/9/10 @ 11:59PM CST.
Thanks for Entering and Good luck to everyone!