Children’s Literacy Network Fall 2013 Newsletter
Our mission is to give all children in Washtenaw County an equal
opportunity to develop a love of reading and books.
Children Who Read…Succeed!
Welcome to the Fall 2013 Newsletter
1954 S. Industrial Hwy. Suite D
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104
Find information about our programs at www.childrensliteracynetwork.org
or call: 734-645-1320
Michigan Recognizes Importance of Early
Childhood Education:
Initiative Underscores Value of Programs Like “Read to Kids”
This “Read to Kids” mom told us that her
sons love their copy of this Dr. Seuss
classic!
Join in the fun at our Barnes & Noble Book Fair on Saturday, December 14!!
• Storytellers will upstairs be from 11AM-
2PM Complimentary gift wrapping by
CLN volunteers
• Complimentary gift wrapping
• When shoppers mention CLN’s Book Fair at checkout, we get 20% of their purchase as in-store credit!
• CLN’s in-store and online code is:11123692
(usable during Saturday, December 14 through Monday, December 16)
• At our previous Barnes & Noble event,
you helped us to raise $1,106!
CLN volunteer Zach Claussen reads The Cat in the Hat to
children at our June Barnes & Noble event where shoppers
helped us raise $1,106!
Thank you!
More than 20 years ago, our
founders knew that early
childhood is the time to get
children excited about books
and reading. Early childhood
education has since been
recognized as one of the greatest
components contributing to high
school graduation and college
attendance. Other research
suggests that success in school is
related to the number of books in
the home. This research supports
the work CLN is doing and the
potential impact of our “Read to
Kids” program.
In May 2013, the Michigan state
legislature passed the largest
expansion in early childhood
education in the nation. As a part
of this increase in funding, more
children will be eligible to attend free or low
cost preschool programs. We are proud
that our largest program, “Read to Kids”,
has been conducted in partnership with
Head Start for nearly 20 years.
“Read to Kids” is CLN’s incentive to read
program for under-resourced families with
a preschool child in a Head Start or Great
Start preschool. With this large preschool
expansion, CLN will be challenged to
provide books for the additional preschool
children. We expect to add at least two
more preschools to our “Read to Kids”
program. Last year, we gave 4,400 books
to under-resourced Washtenaw County
children in our “Read to Kids” program.
In the coming years, we plan to add one
or more preschools as additional schools
qualify for Great Start funding.
Executive Committee:
Julie Walden
President of the Board
Althea Wilson
Vice President of the Board
Sue Budin
Secretary
Directors:
JoAnn Barrett
Roz Biederman
Rick Duncan
Amelia Hefferlin
Allan Loeb
Kecia Rorie
Diane Saulter
Executive Director
Jenni Zimmer
Co-founder
Joan Weisman
Co-founder
Perry Nursery School children love their
“Read to Kids” books!
Other Ways You Can Help!
Stop by Literati Bookstore at
124 E Washington St. in Ann Arbor for your
holiday shopping from mid-November through
December and purchase an extra book to
contribute to Literati’s CLN Book Drive!
Tell your friends!
Hold a book drive of your own!
(Contact CLN for further details)
Successful Kickoff of CLN’s New Summer Book Program
YOU CAN HELP
• $10 will purchase 3 copies of Good Night Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
• $25 will buy 5 copies of Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
• $50 will pay for 4 copies of Where the Sidewalk Ends
by Shel Silverstein
• $100 covers the purchase of 30 copies of Green Eggs and Ham
by Dr. Seuss
• $150 will be enough to give 10 books each to 5 children in
our Summer book Program
Thank you to Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing,
North America, Inc. Toyota Technical Center for the recent
grant benefitting our Read to Kids Program!
Staying in Closer Touch
Incarcerated Parents Speak Up
CLN
One father at the Milan federal detention center wrote:
“I love this program and I think this has been so instrumental n mending the brokenness and loneliness my children have felt in my absence. [My daughter] absolutely loved it, she listens to it every night,and my son is telling me it lets him feel closer to me.”
A mother wrote:
“It brings a closeness to my children that we cannot have otherwise. My children are not able to visit, they live too far way. I love everything about the “Staying in Closer Touch” program, it heals not only my children, but it heals me as a mother also.”
Thanks in part to
a generous grant
from Galens Medical
Society, the Mitchell
Summer Book
Program was a huge
success! Shortly
before the last day of
school, tremendously
enthusiastic children
from kindergarten
through 2nd grade
came to a special
classroom, one grade
level at a time, at Mitchell
Elementary School. It was
here where they were able
to choose 8 books to take
home in new book bags
donated by a community
business. Weeks prior to
the Summer Book Program
kickoff, these same children
had picked out 2 free books
Leaving a Legacy
We give incarcerated parents the opportunity to read a book aloud
to their children who may not have opportunities to visit. Our
volunteers make a recording that is sent to the child with the book.
With the support of CLN friends, we hope to expand the
Summer Book Program to 3rd and 4th graders!
Claire Dahl, CLN volunteer, never gets
tired of helping incarcerated mothers
record books for their children
lost one of its finest promoters of
books and reading, board member
Karl Pohrt, a beloved Ann Arbor bookseller who
passed away this summer. We greatly
miss Karl and CLN co-founder
Joan Weisman, two of
CLN’s most devoted
supporters.
We have received
many “in memory
of” contributions for
both of them., and
are grateful for these
greatly needed funds
to buy more books.
Hopefully others, too,
will see memorial gifts
to CLN as a fitting way to honor loved ones and give
the gift of reading to children.
at the Mitchell book fair,
bringing the total collection
to 10 books of their own
choosing at an appropriate
reading level to take home
for the summer. Overall, we
provided Mitchell students
1,300 books in May!
Executive Director Diane
Saulter and CLN volunteers
were so pleased to see the
excitement these young
book “shoppers” exhibited,
and we hope you will share
in our joy: the first Mitchell
Summer Book Program can
be seen in a short video in
the “Programs” tab on the
CLN website. Executive
Director Diane Saulter and
CLN friend and volunteer
Joanie Binkow are hopeful
that the program they
both worked hard to make
successful in 2013 will be
able to grow. Thank you
Joanie for your time and
effort! While the Galens
grant made this new
program possible in 2013, it
will take community support
to make it sustainable to
continue narrowing the
achievement gap. With
your help, we are working
towards expanding the
program to include the 3rd
and 4th grade classes in
2014.
Check out the “Programs” tab
on our website for a video of
more kids excited about books
and reading!