First, on a very sad note, our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and families in yesterday’s California shooting. WWW, based in Charleston, SC, is all too familiar with the sadness and grief that can engulf a community during such a time of senseless tragedy.

In the face of continued needless violence this year, most recently in Paris and coast-to-coast in the U.S., we can only hope it will help to focus on those in our community who are a force for GOOD. And with that, we bring you this story about an author doing just that. Let’s hope for more of these positive stories and share them widely as we enter into the holiday season…

Shari Stauch
Founder, Where Writers Win

Suspense writer Jenny Milchman has organized Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day for the past six years. The project has grown from 80 participating bookstores to now 800+ in five continents. And this time around, she is testing out something new to further literacy and get books into the hands of kids.

New This Year

Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day is traditionally celebrated on the first Saturday of December (this year, Dec. 5, 2015), but for the first time, Jenny is extending the event to include a field trip for young children in Johnstown, NY.

Through the help of generous donors, the expertise of fellow author and grant writer Dan Barrett, and an elementary school teacher, Heidi Sprouse, who took to the streets to drum up support, a rural community in New York will be able to send 36 pre-K students to their town’s local bookstore on Jan. 15.

Each child will be given a book–in some cases, the first the child has ever owned–take part in a youth writers’ workshop, and discuss the excitement of the day over pizza with classmates and teachers afterward.

This special adjunct day to TYCBD will benefit not only the children but also be a boon to two local businesses, including the only independent bookstore in the area, Mysteries on Main Street, which has weathered upheaval and economic downturns to remain a hub of community connection and reading for 24 years.

If this pilot day is successful, Jenny hopes similar programs can be introduced in at-risk towns and cities nationwide. To help, please visit www.takeyourchildtoabookstore.org and grab an image to share on your website and social media!

More About Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day

Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day is all about introducing children to the pleasures of time spent in a bookstore, helping them to become supporters of their local economies at an early age and cultivating a lifetime love of reading.

But not all children are able to experience these joys–with one in five kids in the U.S. “food insecure,” owning a book can be an unheard of luxury. Jenny’s dream is to make TYCBD a day in which every child can take part.

Jenny Milchman is a two-time Indie Next Pick and Mary Higgins Clark award winning author; she puts her husband and two kids in a car and drives 40,000+ miles across the country each year for her book tour. She is the author of Cover of Snow, Ruin Falls, and most recently, As Night Falls, all published by Ballantine Books/Random House.