| InStyle Magazine featured RCN in "By the book"
"Who wants to hear a story?" Joan Allen asks a scrum of eager tykes all under the age of 5 as she plops down with them on the floor to read a classic tale.
"Then came the big Billy Goat Gruff. 'Trip, trap, trip, trap, trip, trap' went the bridge, and the bridge creaked and groaned under him," she reads in a low, ominous voice. "Who's that tramping over my bridge?" Allen demands loudly, now sounding decidedly troll-like, as her listeners at Round-the-Clock Nursery, a Manhattan preschool, giggle and lean in closer.
Several stories later, at the end of the reading hour, each child will go home with a new book of his or her own, courtesy of First Book, an organization that provides disadvantaged children with books.
Allen, who has been a spokeswoman for them for the last five years, "is someone who understands how powerful books can be for a child," says the group's president, Kyle Zimmer.
Allen became involved with First Book through her friendship with a children's book publisher. In addition to raising awareness of the group's work, she frequently visits schools to read to the students and willingly participates in First Book fund-raisers.
But, says Zimmer, her commitment goes beyond using her celebrity to help the cause. "She has even been to our dirty, dusty warehouse, carting out books and loading them into the trunks of people's cars."
For Allen, it's simply part of fulfilling the group's mission: getting books into the hands of children. "These kids are in a situation where they always get secondhand things, but here they get new books to bring home and share," she said. "It's an esteem-building thing." Which certainly has been constructive. With the help of supporters like Allen, the organization has just given away its 50 millionth book, and that speaks volumes." |
