It's no mystery who turned many adults into lifelong readers -- Nancy Drew. First Book, the award- winning children's literacy organization that provides new books to children in need today announced the results of its What Book Got You Hooked? campaign, revealing that thousands of Americans got hooked on reading by Carolyn Keene's Nancy Drew mysteries.
The online initiative also asked visitors to vote for a state to receive a special donation of 50,000 new children's books. Oklahoma won the competition, receiving more than 34,000 of the nearly 133,000 votes cast. First Book will host a special event in Oklahoma City in September to distribute the books, donated by DK Publishing, to programs throughout the state serving children from low-income families.
Celebrities were quick to lend their support to First Book's What Book Got You Hooked? campaign, sharing their memories of the books that captured their imaginations as children. Television, movie, and music personalities who participated include Rebecca Romijn, Bow Wow, David Duchovny, John Krasinski, Joan Allen, Marlee Matlin, John Lithgow, Lisa Loeb, Joshua Bell, Tyler James Williams and Shane Sparks. The eclectic mix of supporters also included news anchor Judy Woodruff, bestselling authors Joyce Carol Oates and Elizabeth Gilbert, renowned children's book authors Eric Carle and Lois Lowry, syndicated advice columnist Amy Dickinson, Sports Illustrated writer Rick Reilly and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times. All of their stories about the books that got them hooked on reading are featured on the First Book Web site at http://www.firstbook.org/whatbook.
"Many of us remember the one book that we wanted to read over and over again -- the book that really stirred our imaginations and left us wanting just one more chapter before bedtime," said First Book President, Kyle Zimmer. "What Book Got You Hooked? brought back wonderful memories for many people about the books that turned them into lifelong readers," Zimmer continued. "The fact that there are millions of children in our own country that will grow up without these kinds of memories because they have no access to books is devastating. We are delighted that so many people shared their stories in order to help us shine the spotlight on this critical issue."
Research shows that the single strongest indicator of a child's future reading ability is the number of age-appropriate books in the home. Yet access to books is almost non-existent for children living in poverty. A recent study found that in middle-income families there is an average of 13 books for every child, compared to just 1 book for every 300 children in low- income neighborhoods. First Book addresses this crisis at its root by providing new books directly to children in need through community-based programs already serving their families.
Two of First Book's corporate partners Idearc Media Corp., home to Superpages.com and publisher of Verizon YellowPages, and NOGGIN, the commercial-free educational preschool network from Nickelodeon, sponsored What Book Got You Hooked? by highlighting the promotion with their employees and posting banners on their Web sites at http://www.idearc.com/ and http://www.noggin.com/read. Idearc Media and NOGGIN will also participate in the event to celebrate the book donation to children in Oklahoma. The campaign, which ran during June and July, was timed to celebrate First Book's 15th anniversary and the distribution of its 50 millionth new book to children in need.
