Madeline Huff: Books are magical

(Republished with Permission from Society Magazine)

              The first time she heard Kristina Cruise speak at her Charlotte country day school campus, Madeline Huff (L) looked back to her own childhood experience. Huff, 17, sat in the audience during Cruise’s presentation on Promising Pages and thought of how many books she had when she was younger and how important that collection was to her.         

                She applied to the summer intern program and spent of June, July and August working with the organization. She and the other interns immersed themselves in a few of the five events that the nonprofit hosted on average each week. They attended wrapping parties and book drives, sorted and cleaned books at the warehouse before wrapping them and them branding them with the Promising Pages stamp, and transported the books to the elementary schools where the Magic Book Parties were taking place.
                “I really liked being able to go to the Magic Book Parties because I was putting in a lot of work behind the scenes,” Huff said.  “But being able to go to the Magic Book Parties and hand it to the kids in person – it was really rewarding because I got to see the direct impact.”
                She loved to see the children’s enthusiasm toward the magic. “Because they’re so young,” Huff said, “they’re trying to figure out how things work. They’re just so easily influenced.”
                She was influenced by her own work and by Cruise’s ambition as well. She said: “One of the biggest things I learned from this was, when you’re really passionate about something, you can make it happen, whatever it is. That’s what Kristina has taught me because she’s the best example of that.”

Allie Halter: A chance to make a difference

(Republished with Permission from Society Magazine)

                 When Allie Halter joined “The 200 Club,” a junior ambassador program established by Promising Pages, you could say that she found her calling. The club includes young people, even seven-year-olds, who have collected at least 200 books for redistribution, whether through a church, a neighborhood or an alternate creative method.

                Halter exceeded its expectations: She collected 4,100 books. Three SUVs were stuffed to the brim to transport them to their destinations.         

Madeline Huff, Kristina Cruise and Allie Halter

                “It sounds like so many books but I didn’t realize how many I had until I was going back and counting them because I was totally consumed by the entire experience.” Said Halter, 17. The Myers Park High School senior started her collection strategy through social media, sending a mass Facebook message to more than 100 acquaintances in Charlotte, who donated books.

                Then , she said, “ what ended up happening, thankfully, is that people who received my Facebook  message told other people so I received calls from friends of friends. “ they, as well as members of her church and youth group, added to the pile from the middle of June through the middle of August. “I was so excited,” she said. 

                More exciting was her shift in inspiration. During orientation for their internship with Promising Pages, Halter and the other students were told that, if they could total 300 points’ worth of activities from Facebook posts garnering community support to event attendance, Cruise would personally write them recommendation letters for college.

               “I thought I knew what I was getting myself into before I walked in that first day,” Halter said. She decided point accumulation through support was the route she would take and that was how she collected books during the first summer weeks.

                Then she started to attend Magic Book Parties at elementary schools and Crisis Assistance. “The second I started going to the events I automatically fell in love with it and every single aspect of the organization,” she said. She loved to watch the children gather their books, especially at follow-up parties carrying around stacks of their own choosing.

                “You have one chance to make a difference in these kids’ lives,” she said.  “To see them light up just makes all of it so worth it.”

Reading revolution inspires youth by

(Reprinted with permission from Society Magazine)

There are steps to finding magic in the pages of books. A volunteer hands a child a book and that child tears off the wrapping paper concealing it. The child touches the book and is told that, just by doing this, she will grow up to be smart, successful and capable of doing anything she wants to do in the world. And all she has to do to keep the book activated, to keep the magic swirling through her life is to read for 10 minutes each day.

It only takes 45 minutes to go through this process in local, elementary-school classrooms during Magic Book Parties hosted by the volunteers of Promising Pages. The nonprofit was founded by Kristina Cruise of Charlotte during the spring of 2011, and every party is infused with the encouragement of mascot Erma the Bookworma as the children learn to activate their books. A couple of weeks later, those students enjoy follow-up parties with Erma’s cousin, Erm the Bookworm, as they choose from a collection of additional donated books to build up their shelves at home.

“If they believe in the book then they believe in themselves,” Cruise said. “They can do anything. Kids go crazy over this concept.”

Focus on helping youth

          Just a few years earlier, Cruise started to believe she could do something, too. Her journalism career had taken her to Cincinnati, Ohio, where she worked as a reporter for an NBC affiliate. And her work had taken her to a sidewalk outside of a food bank, where a line of shivering people wrapped around several blocks of city streets. They were waiting for food that was in short supply, and Cruise’s job was to raise awareness through her writing about the condition of these people and their hours in the cold.

            Despite the swarm, Cruise said, “This girl caught my eye.” She looked to be about three years old, full of sweetness and full of sorrow as she stood next to her mother. Cruise thought, “What a terrible combination. Because I would wish someone who was that adorable would have joy and be smiling and have a light in her eyes. Instead it was this dark, dull desolation on her face. I just wanted to do something to cheer her up.”

            Cruise rummaged through the items she carried with her, hoping to find some sort of gift for the girl inside. But her face stayed in Cruise’s thoughts: “I just couldn’t get her out of my mind.”
            A couple of days later, Cruise listened to a radio program about the brain scans of a toddler of girls that age. The host spoke about a large-scale study that revealed a correlation between children’s brain function and access to books. Brain scans that lit up in all the appropriate areas were connected to toddlers who had access to books at home. But those that did not light up for certain spaces of the brain were connected to toddlers who did not have ample access to books at home.
            Cruise approached the issue of how to bring the necessary light to such children’s lives. She started to talk to teachers in local public schools, many of whom had students who never set hands on a book before arriving for their first day of school. She thought, “We can change this. Kids outgrow their books the way that they outgrow their shoes.”

Magic of youth helpers

          The idea that kids with books at home wear out only their favorites angled Cruise’s ambition. She wanted to revolutionize the concept of book drives and two years after moving to Charlotte she started to make it happen. May of 2011 brought about her book drive called Books and Basics with Classroom Central. She and other volunteers gathered about 5,000 books and school supplies.
            Then, in December, her nascent organization Promising Pages moved into its current warehouse, a surprise donation from David Longo of Carolina Business Interiors. “That’s the best thing that ever happened to Promising Pages,” Cruise said. “I would not be where I am today and the kids that we serve would not be where they are today if it weren’t for David Longo and his generosity.”
            Between January and October 2012, 40,000 books flooded into the warehouse to be distributed to area children. And between June and August, 22 young interns arrived to help Cruise and her two weekly volunteers, Linda Bonerba and Patricia Ozmeral, manage the workflow.
            Promising Pages unfolded a summer intern program after its coordinators called every possible high school in the area. They whittled down the applicant pool to select well-qualified high-schoolers to contribute to Magic Book Parties, wrapping parties and other events throughout the community, as well as warehouse maintenance and organization.
            Cruise said, “They dedicated over 1,777 man hours, they ran over 55 events in the community, they organized the warehouse, they distributed over 7,000 books and they collected over 6,000 books themselves.”

Same goals greater strides

          The piles of pages have yet to stop accumulating, as Promising Pages is launching its One Million Books Revolution. “Our goal is to collect and redistribute one million books because that’s how many books that we feel that we need to give all children in Charlotte a bookshelf full of books at home,” Cruise said.

            As one kickstarter for the revolution and as part of the one-year anniversary of the unveiling of the warehouse, Promising Pages will host a fundraiser in its warehouse at Carolina Business Interiors on December 1 and 2 that is open to the public. “One of the other things we’re doing at the book sale,” Cruise said, “which I’m so excited about, is that we had these bags printed, and they’re all Magic Reading Totes.”

            These signature items are designed to get children excited about reading by transforming ordinary books into Magic Books. The totes have the same effect as the wrapped books at the Magic Book Parties, only they can reach outside of the classroom of undeserved children.
            A parent can buy a tote - containing a special activation bookmark – for his or her child. The child will then learn to place the bookmark in the book, place both in the tote, and pull the book out three minutes later to read when the magic is at its best. If the child does this every day, he or she is said to be capable of anything.
            The magic reading Totes will make their way into the community and bring a greater immediacy to the reading endeavors of the children who hold them. Cruise said, “Then the magic in the book really shines through.”

Five Reasons To Volunteers With Promising Pages

5) Revisiting old favorites: Many times we hear our volunteers exclaim “I remember this!” when they are cleaning, stamping, or wrapping a book. It almost always leads to fun and interesting conversations about books shaping someone’s childhood.

4) Bonding time: You’d be surprised how much casually chatting with others can lead to group unity. Wrapping parties are a great way to spend time with your organization while doing something for the community.

3) Hard Numbers: We like to keep track of things at Promising Pages, and when a group gets together to wrap, clean, or stamp books, you can see tangible results. For example, last week a group that volunteered with us was able to process over 1500 books in about three hours, books that will be going directly out to the community to the kids who need them.

2) Helping the cause: The books our volunteers process go all over the Charlotte community. We have several partner organizations that use us as a resource as well as doing projects on our own to foster a love of reading for kids who may not otherwise have books at home. Our goal is to get books out of our warehouse and into the hands of kids as quickly as possible—and you can help!

1) We couldn’t do it without you!: Much of the work done at Promising Pages is completed by single and group volunteers who help us run smoothly. We are always excited when a new group wants to get involved, or groups who have volunteered before want to return. We mean it when we say that we couldn’t function at the capacity we do without the help of our amazing volunteers!

-Carley Foster, #readysetread

Ten Facts You Didn't Know About Your Favorite Children's Authors

As a sophomore in college, I took a Children’s Literature course as part of my requirement as an English major. I’m not English major anymore, but the trivia I learned in class not only allowed me to revisit some of my favorite childhood books with a new perspective, it gave me a newfound appreciation for the authors and the stories they told. I hope you enjoy them as well:

1. Many people know that Mark Twain is a pen name—Twain’s real name is Samuel Clemens. What you may not know is the origins of the pen name: Mark Twain wanted to be a riverboat captain in his younger years. “Mark Twain” was a phrase shouted by those working on riverboats to warn against sand bars in shallow parts of the Mississippi.  

2. Laura Ingalls Wilder’s first book, Little House in the Big Woods, was originally titled “When Grandma Was A Little Girl.” She titled the book as a jab at her daughter and editor, Rose, because Rose did not want to have children.

3. There are more visitors’ attractions tied to Laura Ingalls Wilder than any other author in the United States.

4. Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis was written in the middle of a children’s library—Curtis enjoyed writing in noisy, chaotic environments (he also wrote on his breaks at an automobile factory).

5. Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh (one of my personal favorites) was the first book ever written about a child visiting a psychologist.

6. L. Frank Baum and W.W. Denslow, the author and illustrator of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz were so adamant about the book being illustrated in color that they paid the extra cost out-of-pocket, which was expensive in the 1900s.

7. Roald Dahl, author of classics like Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (and my favorite children’s author), did most of his writing in a garden shed on legal pads…in pencil. If he didn’t like what he had written, he would burn the pages outside.

8. The stuffed animals that inspired the characters in A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh are still on display at the New York Public Library.

9. Not only was Beatrix Potter (author of The Tale of Peter Rabbit) an accomplished author and illustrator, she was also an expert on fungi.

10. Before writing Where The Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak painted window displays at the F.A.O. Schwartz toy store in New York City. 

-Carley Foster, #readysetread

Where Do The Books Go?

Erma Helps with Open House

My best friend came to volunteer at the Promising Pages warehouse for the first time last week. As I was showing her around, she was astounded by the thousands of books we have received as donations. “What do you do with all these books?” She asked me. What a great question—I’m glad she asked! 

Promising Pages' claim-to-fame is the Magic Book Parties we host at TItle 1 elementary schools and shelters around the Charlotte area. At each party, children receive a book of their own, and receive several more when we follow up. But what we give away at Magic Book Parties is not even a scratch in our supply, and as our Founder Kristina Cruise says, “These books aren’t doing us any good sitting in our warehouse.”

This week, Promising Pages hosted two Open Houses for teachers, site coordinators, and directors of organizations in the Charlotte area that work with high risk children who likely do not have books at home. This gives other organizations the ability to use our warehouse as a resource, getting our books back out into the community where they are most needed.

Community Partners and Volunteer Kim Plyler (R)

It’s as simple as serving high risk kids,  signing up for a time slot days and bringing some empty boxes. The Open House allows representatives to take as many 10 books for each child they serve, absolutely free. We were able to give away over 7,000 books this week to some great organizations that can help us spread the love of reading to kids in Charlotte. Each book comes stamped with the Promising Pages logo, and has the potential to change a child’s life. Please follow us on Facebook for our next Open House Date if you are interested in getting books or helping run the event. We are 100% volunteer so every hand counts!

-Carley Foster, #readysetread