spoonfuls_of_stories_11_22_2010
Nov. 22, 2010 | General Mills Corporate Communications |
Books keep flowing from 'Spoonfuls of Stories'
After distributing almost 50 million children’s books in the past decade, the Cheerios Spoonfuls of Stories program is still going strong with a new assortment of titles, actress Jennie Garth as a spokesperson, and First Book and Feeding America as donation recipients.
And for the second year, all five titles are published in both English and Spanish.
What’s more, Cheerios has made a $300,000 donation to First Book, a nonprofit organization that helps get books into the hands of low-income children.
Behind the donations and the in-box campaign is an effort to get books into the hands of kids, particularly those in low-income neighborhoods.
A national survey says that while two in three mothers read to their kids at least once a day, almost as many say that their schedules prevent them from reading more.
'6 Million Minute' Read-A-Thon Cheerios recently used its Facebook presence to support its relationship with nonprofit partner First Book to create the successful "6 Million Minute" Read-A-Thon.
One study reveals that the ratio of books to children is 13-to-1 in middle-income neighborhoods. It's one book for every 300 children in low-income neighborhoods. |
The initiative encouraged parents to pledge to read with their children 15 minutes each day, and reached its goal of 6 million minutes. That triggered a one-time donation to Feeding America of 250,000 new books to children in need.
General Mills has a 30-year relationship with Feeding America, the leading hunger relief organization in the U.S., and distributing books through Feeding America to underprivileged U.S. communities furthered the partnership.
Spoonfuls also has enlisted Garth, who appeared in the TV show "90210," and the mother of three. She read one of the Spoonfuls books to a group of bilingual children and their mothers at the Pico Union Library in Los Angeles last month.
"\In conjunction with that appearance, Cheerios donated 5,000 books to the Los Angeles library system and 5,000 to the LA Boys and Girls clubs for distribution to low-income families throughout L.A.
This year's editions Since Spoonfuls debuted in 2001, Cheerios has donated more than $3.5 million to First Book and distributed nearly 50 million children's books inside packages. This year's in-pack offerings from Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing are aimed for children ages 3 to 8. They were selected by mothers during a "Moms Choose" contest last year.
They are:
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"All the World," by Liz Garton Scanlon and illustrated by Marla Frazee, discusses the many wonderful things a child can encounter in the world as well as the commonalities all the world shares.
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"Chaucer’s First Winter," by Stephen Krensky and illustrated by Henry Cole, follows a bear named Chaucer, who knows he is supposed to sleep through the winter but feels it’s much more fun to stay up and play.
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" Jump!," by Scott M. Fischer, chronicles the adventures of a bug, a frog, a cat, a hound, a crocodile, a shark, and a whale, who all love to jump.
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" No T. Rex in the Library," by Toni Buzzeo and illustrated by Sachiko Yoshikawa, is a story about a little girl named Tess and her adventures in the library with a boisterous T-Rex.
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" The Purple Kangaroo," by comedian Michael Ian Black and illustrated by Peter Brown, is a vivid and humor-filled story that tricks the reader into thinking about a purple kangaroo.
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