Today’s guest blog post comes from Ron Rauss, an author, illustrator, and published photographer. Ron lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and son. He was announced as the 2010 Cheerios Spoonfuls of Stories New Author Contest Grand Prize winner in March 2011 and will have his first picture book “Can I Just Take A Nap?” published by Simon and Schuster in 2012.
Last October I received an extra treat with my Halloween goodies. Not just another chocolate bar or bag of candy corn, this treat came in the form of a phone call from General Mills letting me know that I had won the grand prize in the Cheerios Spoonfuls of Stories New Author Contest. I remember thinking that someone must be playing a Halloween trick on me, I loved my story but could it really be the big winner? It was no trick; Can I just Take a Nap? (a story inspired by my son Aiden) was chosen from over 8,000 contest entries and the manuscript would be reviewed by Simon & Schuster. Wow, does it get any better than that?
Believe me when I tell you that it does. In mid December I received another special call; this time it was from an editor with S & S and an early Christmas present, a publishing deal for my story. What a wonderful way to end 2010 and bring in a new year.
Six months later the excitement of the big win has not worn off and I still have to pinch myself now and then to make sure it’s not all a dream. The only negative is that I have to wait until next spring for the best part. That’s when my book will debut in paperback free inside millions of boxes of Cheerios®, giving kids all over the country the opportunity to enjoy the book before the hardcover edition ever hits the bookstores. It’s the part of the contest that is really special and reminds me why I started writing for children in the first place. I write to make children happy, I write for the smiles, and because of First Book and General Mills Can I Just Take a Nap? will be responsible for millions of smiles in 2012 (I have my fingers crossed!). That’s what I call an overwhelming success.
There are many ways for authors to judge whether their books are successful or not. Sales figures, critic reviews and literary awards are just a few. These things are all nice and they can give writers the validation needed to create day to day in a world filled with constant rejection. But in the grand scheme of things these numbers, opinions and medals are secondary to the enjoyment and wonder of a child. All the other things are just icing on the cake. With the Spoonfuls of Stories contest you can have the best of both worlds, helping get books to kids who need them while fulfilling your dreams of becoming a published, award winning author. Not to mention the pride of being associated with a wonderful organization like First Book whose main goal is to get new books to schools and programs that serve low-income children.
The contest is open for submissions now at spoonfulsofstoriescontest.com, but only until July 15th. So put on your creative thinking caps and get to work, your story could be the reason for millions of smiles in 2013 and the biggest will belong to you.
2010 was a big year for First Book, and we couldn’t have done it without you. Thanks to our friends, fans, and generous supporters, we have a lot to celebrate.
Here are some of the cool things you helped make possible this past year:
We Reached the Milestone of 80 Million Books
At our annual Book Bash fund-raiser in New York City, we handed a basket of books to Round the Clock Nursery. One of the books in that basket was the 80 millionth book that First Book has distributed to kids in need since our founding in 1992.
We Shared the Stage With World Leaders
Kyle Zimmer, our president and co-founder, spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Kyle discussed the impact and importance of the First Book Marketplace as a leading model for social entrepreneurship.
We Worked in Our Local Communities
Local First Book volunteer groups (known as Advisory Boards) in cities, towns and counties nationwide helped distribute $3 million worth of new books to kids in their communities.
We Teamed Up With ‘Reading is Fundamental’
First Book and Reading is Fundamental (RIF) joined forces to provide 600,000 new books to children in RIF programs across the country.
We Added New Books to Our Marketplace
We added lots of great new titles to our online Marketplace – including authors like Eric Carle, Jeff Kinney, Susan Meddaugh, Mo Willems and many others – so teachers and program leaders have even more choices.
We Got People to See Waiting for “Superman”
First Book was excited to kick off the pledge campaign as a promotional partner for this powerful documentary film.
We Released Special Editions
First Book continued one of our favorite traditions this year, releasing several new special editions, including Mo Willems’ Elephant & Piggie books and Eileen Spinelli’s ‘While You Are Away’.
We Distributed One Million Books With Target
To celebrate the launch of the ‘Read With Me’ campaign, Target helped us distribute one million new books to schools across the country. When a million people pledge to commit to read with a child, Target will provide another million books.
We Read a Lot of Short Stories
Volunteers from First Book’s local Advisory Boards read nearly 8,000 stories submitted through the Cheerios® New Author Contest in order to pick the top 25. That’s more than twice as many submissions as last year! (Check back in March to read the winning entry).
We Helped Kids Learn About Science and Math<
Guest blogger, Kellie Cairns, is the co-chair of First Book – Los Angeles and the creator and director of Book Buddies, a literacy program of the Molina Foundation. She is known to thousands of children simply as “The Book Lady” and is proud to call herself a friend of First Book.
Actress Jennie Garth helps launch the ninth annual Cheerios Spoonfuls of Stories Program by reading to children in Los Angeles
Beaming faces of young children greeted actress and literacy advocate Jennie Garth at the Pico Union Library in downtown Los Angeles Wednesday morning.
There to celebrate the launch of the ninth annual Cheerios® Spoonfuls of Stories® program, Jennie read to her eager audience of children and their parents from the book, “All the World” by Liz Garton Scanlon and Marla Frazee.
Cheerios, a longtime partner of First Book, also announced a donation of 5,000 books that will be distributed to children throughout the Los Angeles area. Members of First Book – Los Angeles were in attendance and gratefully acknowledged the donation of the books to the community.
After the book reading, Jennie – a mother of three girls, helped distribute Cheerios book bags filled with books to the children in attendance. One mother was seen wiping tears from her eyes as her child clutched her books to her chest. “This means so much to us, and to our kids. Thank you so much for this special day!”
