New 200 Book Club Members!

Promising Pages knows that its biggest heroes and most important members are the people who collect books for us, through drives, at drop-off locations, by cleaning out their garage, or any of the hundred other crazy ways our amazing donors find them. Our two newest 200 Book Club Members, Kaitlin (7) and Madison (9), went (with the permission and supervision of their parents) through their neighborhood and asked for books that people just didn’t use anymore and collected over 400 books in just five short weeks. 

Kaitlin and Madison both enjoy reading; it’s Kaitlin’s favorite school subject, and at times their mother has to prompt them to stop reading so that other things can get done. Madison’s favorite subject is math, but her favorite book is All About Rabbits. Both girls say they read almost every day and love to partner-read with one another, a great technique to improve their own reading skills and bonding over a fun but educational activity.

Kaitlin’s favorite books are Tangled and Brave. It’s great when young girls gravitate towards books with strong, independent female leads, and the confidence of Merida definitely has begun to bud in Kaitlin, who said she’s read the book twelve times already. 

Madison loves the color pink and was super-excited about how many books she and her sister could raise for Promising Pages with just the help of her parents and generosity of her neighbors. As she goes into the 4^th grade, Madison is already showing great compassion and leadership skills, and a sense of altruism that we find truly inspiring. She also has a great sense of humor and wanted us to relay her favorite joke: why did the lion cross the road? To get to the other pride.

Madison and Kaitlin demonstrate what Promising Pages is all about: small actions with huge impacts and a focus on community, family, and education. We’re happy to welcome them to the special family of our 200 Book Club and expect that we’ll be talking about them and their amazing book drives again very soon!

Remember that you can organize a book drive for Promising Pages on your own! If you're interested, just let us know at promisingpages@gmail.com. We also have wrapping parties for getting books ready and tons of other awesome ways you can help just like Kaitlin and Madison did!

Good Times at Greenway Park

The kids do something like a wave when Wilson tells them the good news: spreading out from the center of the flock, the kids of Greenway Park Elementary leap to their feet and at the news that Promising Pages has a present, a book for each of them just days before summer vacation. It might be the most important gift during the entire span of their elementary education, or perhaps all of their education. It’s a book for themselves, that they can treasure and read over and over again, helping keep their young minds active and exploring stories and words until August comes around.

The Magic Book Party at Greenway Park Elementary was the largest event in Promising Pages history, serving approximately 600 kids, grades kindergarten through fifth grade. Because of the size, we divided the school and held two Magic Book Parties, one for first, second, and third grade, and another for kindergarten, fourth, and fifth grades. Intern Mitchell Sharp had the privilege of playing Erm the Bookworm for the second Magic Book Party, his first time doing so. Excited about the opportunity, he noted how excited the kids were, how well-behaved they acted, and how enthusiastic the teachers and other volunteers, from St. Stevens United Methodist Church, were to participate. Kids danced as they waited for their books, compared their gifts to one another, read their new presents, and looked up to Erm with a crowd of smiles, all their white teeth shining like flashbulbs, their energy barely contained, some practically bursting with wanting to cartwheel across the floor in excitement. 

It’s exciting for all of us to see kids more excited for books than summer vacation. At Promising Pages, we try to make every book special for every kid, because it really is their magic book, the book that might bring them back to being interested in reading and changing the entire course of their education. One little girl was given a book on her favorite subject: unicorns. From the excitement she showed, the smile that spread across her face and took it over, we know she will take that book home to her parents, or brothers and sisters, or aunts and uncles. She’ll want to read it to them, have it read to her, cherish it and use it to improve her reading. And lots of students from Greenway Park will have the same experience, the same desire and enthusiasm.

Donating six hundred books is a lot, and Promising Pages wants to thank all of our donors and supporters. Without your help, this party would have never been able to happen, and the kids of Greenway Park would never have been able to get their presents. With your support, we’ve been able to do so much, and will be able to do so much more. We’d also like to thank Fox News Rising and Wilson for coming out and hyping up the crowd and covering our event, and the volunteers from St. Stevens United Methodist Church. But most of all, we’d like to thank the kids of Greenway Park Elementary for letting us have such an awesome time and share the magic of their Magic Book Party.

Wilson's World Video and Article 

Fox Charlotte Rising

On the Death of Ray Bradbury

Everyone at Promising Pages has books they love, that they’ve read a dozen times or more. And unfortunately, we all have that book that we’ve been meaning to read, that we see at the bookstore when we’re only there to get something else, because we have somewhere to be, something so unimportant to do that it can’t wait. We always have a million other things to read. For me, Fahrenheit 451 was that book, that book I somehow never finished. Ray Bradbury was a giant in literature and science fiction, and we owe so much to his works. They really seem prescient at times, haunting at others, and always beautiful in their style.

Born in 1920, Bradbury received a Pulitzer citation for “his distinguished, prolific and deeply influential career as an unmatched author of science fiction and fantasy” and published stories for seventy years, selling his first story in his early 20s, winning a coveted O. Henry Award and making him one of the most recognizable science fiction authors ever. Publishing prolifically, his work sought to reconcile the modern world with our past and our inevitable future and a way to change things for the better, no matter how dark or bleak it may look.

There’s no better way to pay homage to Ray Bradbury than through his own words, so below are a collection of quotes, pulled from various sources and books, that we hope inspire you to live and dream as big as one of the biggest science fiction authors who will ever live: 

“If you can’t read and write you can’t think. Your thoughts are dispersed if you don’t know how to read and write. You’ve got to be able to look at your thoughts on paper and discover what a fool you were.” (Salon.com)

“And when he died, I suddenly realized I wasn’t crying for him at all, but for the things he did. I cried because he would never do them again, […] He was an individual. He was an important man. I’ve never gotten over his death. […] How many jokes are missing from the world, and how many homing pigeons untouched by his hands? He shaped the world. He did things to the world. The world was bankrupted of ten million fine actions the night he passed on.” (Fahrenheit 451)

He did things to the world. The world was bankrupted of ten million fine actions the night he passed on. Goodbye, Ray Bradbury. We’ll miss you.

Like Son Like Father

Ed Rosenblatt, inaugural Chairman of the Board of Directors

Junior Ambassador Tate Rosenblatt, an avid reader, involved himself with Promising Pages at the encouragement of his father, who told him that his love of books could be his vehicle to making a difference in the world. Now, Promising Pages is proud to welcome Ed Rosenblatt as Chair to the inaugural Board of Directors. He plans to begin his term by “creating the infrastructure necessary so that all those that are committed to our vision are able to succeed,” and has high praise for both our founders and other board members. 

With Promising Pages in the midst of our One Million Books campaign, strong leadership and creative ideas are essential. We’re continuing to grow and appointing our first Chairman to the Board of Directors is a major step in our process. We’re happy to include another member of the Rosenblatt family because, at the heart of it, Promising Pages is as much about family as it is about reading: parents who help their kids learn to read and encourage them to read as much as possible are helping to provide them with a lifelong skill set, one that Tate calls, “the most important skill you can have.” As the Rosenblatt family demonstrates, it’s important that we encourage a life-long love of reading to our family and the Charlotte community.

Ed says one of his favorite books as a child was The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger’s classic. Joining Promising Pages will allow him a similar mission as Holden Caulfield’s titular dream, grabbing the kids running through the rye before they plunge off the cliff, living their lives below their potential because of a lack of books. Because of the support of Ed and Tate, and all of our volunteers, we can raise up the estimated 60,000 kids in Charlotte who do not have any books of their own. Ed promises to bring the same fervor to his role as Tate has to his junior ambassador role, in which he helped his school, Charlotte Preparatory, collect 4,180 books, a Promising Pages school-drive record. Founder Kristina Cruise says Ed “embodies all the qualities that a good board member and good citizen should have: he is sharp, professional, and kind; he cares deeply about his community. He’s the kind of guy you are proud to be associated with and the kind of leader you aim to be.”

Ed Rosenblatt, an attorney, is a member of McGuireWoods’ Government, Regulatory and Criminal Investigations Department and co-chair of the Broker-Dealers & Investment Advisers Industry Team. His law practice focuses on government enforcement, internal investigations, securities and banking regulation and compliance matters. Prior to joining the firm, Ed held senior positions with Wells Fargo & Co. (and its predecessor Wachovia Corp.,). He grew up in Baltimore, MD and later moved to Washington D.C for 14 years; he has been a resident of Charlotte for the past 7 years. He is happily married with two boys, Tate (12) and Parker (9).