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Guest blogger John Lithgow is an award-winning actor, author and entertainer. His extraordinary talents have earned him two Tony Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe, two SAG Awards, The American Comedy Award, and a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. John is also a two-time Academy Award nominee.

I am delighted to be joining Cheerios and First Book to present this year’s Cheerios® Book Donation Challenge. It is such a thrill to see my friends from Marsupial Sue, Micawber and I’m a Manatee doing their part to help get new books to children in need.

The Challenge gives you the chance to determine where Cheerios will donate 100,000 new books to children across the country. For every question you answer correctly, you can vote for the state that you’d like to receive new books for children in need. The top 5 vote-getting states will each receive 20,000 new books for local children! What could be more fun than that?

Take a look in the cereal aisle at a store near you for the special-edition Cheerios boxes featuring my friends from Marsupial Sue, Micawber, and I’m a Manatee! On the back of the cereal box you will find trivia questions that will keep everyone at the table thinking through breakfast. (In I’m a Manatee, what IS kept spick and span-atee?)

And be sure to visit the Cheerios Book Donation Challenge to cast your votes from now until Sunday, June 15th!

Before I go, I’d like to tip my hat to First Book and Cheerios for the terrific work they are doing to ensure that all kids have the chance to grow up with new books in their lives. As an author, and as a father, I can think of no greater gift to share with a child.

The New York Times looks at two books about sneaking vegetables into kid’s food that have some remarkable similarities. When I first heard the charge, I wasn’t convinced, but the details are kind of suspicious: “The basic concepts for several of Ms. Lapine’s recipes — spinach in brownies, avocado in chocolate pudding and sweet potato in grilled cheese sandwiches — also appear in recipes offered by Ms. Seinfeld.”

The Washington Post says "Cooking is not considered inventing; rather, it evolves. Copyright law specifies that "substantial literary expression in the form of an explanation or directions," such as a cookbook, can be copyrighted but that a mere list of ingredients cannot receive that protection." (Read more here. I also know that I have seen a cookbook by Julie Russo (of Silver Palate fame) and a cookbook by Michele Urvater with identical text. Urvater’s was first. Both were lists of ingredients you could use to give foods an ethnic flavor. Both were lengthy, detailed lists, and matched other detail for detail

Read more about the flap here.