|
The
Books for Kids Foundation promotes literacy among all children
with special
emphasis on disadvantaged children and youth. Books for Kids: |
          |
News Item Archives
BFK
Distributes 22,000+ Books in 2002
Little
Red Lighthouse named Literary Landmark
Cooper
Park Library Opening
Leonard Marcus Joins BFK's Advisory
Committee
New York State Attorney General Grants
|
BFK
Distributes 22,000+ Books in 2002
|
|
The Books For Kids Foundation distributed 22,216 books valued at $189,000 to a total of 43 children's service agencies during 2002. The most recent warehouse day on December 10th got 4,600 valued at $23,400 to five children's service agencies in time for the holidays. |
|
Little Red Lighthouse to be dedicated a Literary Landmark |
|
-- Dedication to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the children's classic |
| New York, August 7, 2002: The Books for Kids Foundation and the Friends of Libraries USA have announced today that the two organizations will dedicate the little red lighthouse a literary landmark on Saturday, September 21, 2002. The lighthouse sits beneath the George Washington Bridge in New York City. The plaque will honor author, Hildegarde Hoyt Swift, and illustrator, Lynd Ward, who created the children's picture book classic The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge. The book is celebrating its sixtieth anniversary of its publication in 2002. |
| The Jeffrey's Hook Lighthouse in Fort Washington Park was popularized by their children's book that was published in 1942. In this fictional account of the Jeffrey's Hook lighthouse, the structure was presented as a symbol of the significance of a small thing in a big world. After the proposed removal of the lighthouse in 1951, it became a celebrated landmark. The public outcry of the children and all their allies prompted the preservation of the structure through its transfer to the jurisdiction of the Department of Parks of the City of New York |
| The Books for Kids Foundation is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting literacy among all children, with a special emphasis on disadvantaged children and youth. Books for Kids provides books, creates libraries, and participates in reading initiatives within community-based organizations, social service agencies, schools, and under-served institutions. Founded in 1986, Books for Kids has given children more than 5 million books, with a retail value of $11 million, created 25 libraries, and provided literacy support for more than 200 agencies in the New York Metropolitan Area and communities throughout the United States. |
| The Books for Kids Foundation has cosponsored three other landmarks in New York City -- for Kay Thompson's Eloise at the Plaza Hotel in 1999; for Ludwig Bemelmans' Madeline at Pete's Tavern in 2000 and for Margaret Wise Brown at Bank Street College in 2001. |
|
The Books for Kids Foundation will also feature The Little Red Lighthouse at its annual Children's Book Author and Illustrator breakfast at The Algonquin Hotel during New York is Book Country® on Sunday, September 29, 2002 at 10 AM. |
| The Friends of Libraries USA administer the Literary Landmark Program. FOLUSA is a membership organization of more than two thousand members. Its mission is to motivate and support local Library Friends groups across the country in their efforts to preserve and strengthen libraries. Dedications have included homes of famous writers (Tennessee Williams, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, William Faulkner, Margaret Mitchell), libraries and museum collections, literary scenes (such as John's Grill in San Francisco, immortalized by Dashiell Hammett, and Willa Cather's Prairie near Red Cloud, Nebraska), and even "Grip" the Raven, formerly the pet of Charles Dickens and inspiration to Edgar Allen Poe and now presiding (stuffed) at the Rare Books Department of the Free Library of Philadelphia. |
| HILDEGARDE HOYT SWIFT (1890-1977) wrote several books for children. Best known for The Railroad to Freedom, which received a Newbery Honor in 1933, Swift spent her life recording the lives of heroic Americans. The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge is her most popular picture book. LYND WARD (1905-1985) illustrated more than two hundred books for children and adults throughout his prolific career. Winner of the Caldecott Medal in 1953 for his watercolors in The Biggest Bear, Mr. Ward was also famous for his wood engravings, which can be seen in museum collections throughout the United States and abroad. |
|
CONTACT: ROCCO STAINO |
|
BOOKS
FOR KIDS DEDICATES LIZ QUINLAN LIBRARY |
|
--Grant from New York State
Attorney General Funds 500-Volume Collection |
| NEW YORK, June 24, 2002-The Books for Kids Foundation has created the 500-volume Liz Quinlan Memorial Library at the Cooper Park Child Care Center at 292 Frost Street in Williamsburg (Brooklyn). Financing for the library came from a multi-year grant funded by a court-approved settlement distribution plan developed by the Office of the New York State Attorney. A ribbon-cutting will take place on Monday, July 1 at 9:30 a.m. |
| To serve the 52 preschool children from low-income families who attend the center each day, the library offers a diverse collection of new, top-quality, age-appropriate children's books with themes ranging from letters, numbers and colors to multiculturalism and common life experiences. Character books, fairy tales and folk tales are also included. A listening center with a cassette player for books on tapes, posters, a rocking chair, puppets and parenting resource information make the library a comprehensive literacy center. Books for Kids has dedicated the facility to the late Liz Quinlan, who served as the Foundation's beloved Executive Director from 1996-2001. |
| "By creating a warm, welcoming place that exposes these young children to books and reading, we hope to foster positive early literacy experiences that will give the children an equal place at life's starting line," said Marion Sullivan, Executive Director of the Books for Kids Foundation. |
| "The ultimate goal is to use books to help preschool children develop communication skills, literacy and a lifetime love of the printed word," said Charlotte Striggles, Director of the Cooper Park Child Care Center. |
|
Cooper Park Child Care Center is managed by Sheltering Arms Children's Services and serves a population that is primarily African-American and Hispanic. Families must meet certain eligibility requirements for their children to participate in the center's programs. |
| Earlier this year, Books for Kids established a similar library at the Anthony Abbene Early Childhood Learning Academy managed by the Cypress Hills Child Care Corporation at 108 Pine Street in Brooklyn. That facility was dedicated on April 26, 2002. |
| The Books for Kids Foundation promotes literacy among all children, with special emphasis on disadvantaged children and youth. Books for Kids donates books, creates libraries and participates in reading initiatives within community-based organizations, social service agencies, schools and under-served institutions. Since its founding in 1986, Books for Kids has put more than 5 million books valued at $11 million into the hands of children who might not otherwise have access to them. |
|
CONTACT: MARY ANNE MYERS |
|
Leonard
Marcus Joins BFK's Advisory Committee
|
|
Leonard S. Marcus, one of the children's book world's most respected and versatile writers, historian, and critic, joined the Books for Kids Advisory Committee in December 2001. |
|
Mr. Marcus's highly acclaimed books about children's literature and the authors and artists who create them include: Margaret Wise Brown: Awakened by the Moon; Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom; A Caldecott Celebration: Six Artists and Their Paths to the Caldecott Medal; The Making of Goodnight Moon; and 75 Years of Children's Book Week Posters. His other children's books include: Lifelines: A Poetry Anthology Patterned on the Stages of Life; Mother Goose's Little Misfortunes; and Petrouchka: A Ballet Cut-Out Book. |
|
Leonard reviews children's books monthly for Parenting magazine as well as for other major national publications, television programs and radio shows. He also organizes exhibitions of children's books and frequently speaks to parents groups and other organizations on subjects related to children's literature. |
| A native of Mount Vernon, NY, who now lives with his family in Brooklyn, Leonard holds degrees in history from Yale and poetry from the University of Iowa's Graduate Writers' Workshop. For more information, visit www.leonardmarcus.com. |
|
New York State Attorney General Grants Books for Kids $250,000 |
| In March 2000, Books for Kids was chosen by the New York State Attorney General’s office to receive $250,000 from the settlement of a 1998 antitrust suit brought against Toys R Us and several toy manufacturers. The funds will be allocated over a three-year time frame to distribute high-quality new books to children served by social service agencies and community-based groups throughout New York State and to create children’s libraries in agencies with active literacy programs. |
|
"The work being done at Books for Kids is a shining example of the tangible impact that can be achieved for individuals and communities by placing books into the hands of children who might otherwise not have access to them," said New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. "New York could use more organizations like Books for Kids and we're proud to include them as part of the State's antitrust settlement." |
| The Attorney General’s grant is being administered by the Books for Kids Program Committee, which has developed a grant application and procedure for identifying the most qualified recipients. The funds will be allocated in two phases, with the first phase focusing on book distribution and the second on the creation of libraries in under-served children’s services locations across New York State. To obtain a grant application, call Mary Anne Myers at 212-252-9168. |
|
Volunteer With Us The Books
for Kids Foundation |
®