On Saturday, Disney kicked off some HUGE news during its 2014 Social Media Moms Celebration. It unveiled its Give A Book, Get A Book partnership with First Book that will donate up to ONE MILLION books to U.S. communities in need, as well as present families with free digital books from Disney Publishing.
This is an initiative that is near and dear to my heart because I truly believe EVERY child should have access to any book they so choose. One of my major goals for the site is to partner with other organizations to make sure my readers’ kids have full, fun book libraries at home. So I was thrilled to be on hand for the announcement.
To kick off the announcement, they had special remarks from Disney Junior’s Genevieve Goings (from “Choo-Choo Soul”); Nancy Kanter, Executive Vice President, Original Programming and General Manager, Disney Junior Worldwide; and First Book Board Member, Dr. Martha Bernadett.
And then Levar Burton came out!
For those of you who don’t know, I consider reading to be my sport of choice. So to meet the “curator-in-chief” for Reading Rainbow, it was literally an item on my bucket list. And then they played the Reading Rainbow theme song and I just about lost it.
In addition to the top brass from Disney Junior and First Book, they had three celebrity guests: David Arquette (voice of Skully in “Jake and the Neverland Pirates”), Ariel Winter (voice of Sophia in “Sophia the First”), and Tim “Make It Work” Gunn (voice of Baileywick in “Sophia the First”). My kids didn’t know who they were—until they started reading.
“She sounds like Sophia!” my daughter whispered to me.
“She IS Sophia,” I whispered back.
There are two ways to participate in the “Give A Book, Get A Book” program:
- For a limited time, with the purchase of any specially marked Disney Junior book or product, receipts or packaging will include a redemption code allowing kids and families to direct the donation of a book to First Book in the region of their choice and toaccess a free Disney Digital Book to share as a family. This program begins April 21.
- Additionally, Give a Book, Get a Book bookmarks with redemption codes will be distributed to visitors at participating public libraries and Radio Disney events throughout the summer.