Falling off a CLiF

Nope, that's not a typo in the title. It's the abbreviation for the Children's Literacy Foundation, this incredible non-profit that I've been involved in since its beginning.

As you may have guessed, books are as much a part of my life as breathing. They are my oldest friends so getting kids to read for fun is incredibly important to me. I mean, if you can't read, you're locked out of so much in life, not just ripping good novels.

CLiF started with a single idea—putting collections of new children's books in rural public libraries in New Hampshire and Vermont. Between the two states, we have something just under a bazillion that fit into that category.

From there, the new-books-for-kids idea grew to include homeless shelters, food shelves, daycare centers, low income housing projects, bookmobiles, and prisons where children come to visit parents.

Up here, the landscape is littered with artists of all kinds, including lots of children's book writers and illustrators. CLiF arranges visits by these folks in the public schools. Believe me, I've been to a few of these events and the kids are awed by meeting someone who does this kind of work "for real."

And we have a small but incredibly good group of writers who present workshops in the schools, and you just wouldn't believe what amazing poetry and stories get created in CLiF's wake.

This summer, CLiF served its 100,000th child. My husband and I were figuring it out the other day and the oldest of the first kids CLiF entertained with stories and introduced to books are in their mid-twenties now.

On our website, www.clifonline.org, you'll find a great list of children's books so if you're looking for the perfect gift for a young person on your favorite-people list (or you just want to check out some of the best in young adult fiction), you will find a good one there.

And check out the pictures taken at CLiF events, like the one up top of the young man who's totally into what he's reading.

I know just how he feels. It just doesn't get any better than this.