Pipeline to support all programs serving kids in need, all classrooms serving kids in need. And reading is fundamental is a good example. We have over 1900 reading is fundamental programs supported by first book as well as over 40,000 others. So headstarts, school classrooms, after school programs, mentoring, kids 018 are supported by first book. Host well, Jane Robinson mentioned reading is fundamental, and were joined by carol as coe who is the president and ceo of rif, or reading is fundamental. Give us the background, if you would, ms. Rasco, on reading is fundamental. Guest well, 46 years ago marchgy mcnamara who was in the cabinet, she went to a meeting that Jacqueline Kennedy called of all cabinet spouses. And mrs. Kennedy is said to have told each spouse we are each going to do something to make washington a better place for the people who live and work here every day. And mrs. Mcnamara had a great reputation as a reading tutor. She tutored the wealthier children in town, and she tutored children at very, from very poor economic backgrounds. She had Found One Day in her tutoring how much it meant to the three boys she was tutoring at a local Public School to be given a book. She had brought books that her children had had years before and had been left at home, of course. And she let each of them take a book home. Well, one of the mothers came to the school the next day to return the stolen book, and they said, no, we want the child to have the book, and that started a tradition of rif when they present a book to a child of writing the childs name in it or helping the child write the name. Rif does not pretend to be the teacher of reading. Rif is here to help children, particularly those most at risk of not learning to read well and on time. That usually means poor children. We are here to help them see the joy of reading first by putting that book in their hands that they have chosen. And write the name in it. And then over recent years we have really tried to begin to stress even more the presential involvement that the parental involvement that needs to happen with that book if its going to come alive. We have undergone a transition in the last year. For 34 were 46 years old. For the last 34 years, we have had a large federal book grant that was not funded in the fy12 budget. So we are now, um, doing the kinds of things we probably should have done even more of in forming collaborations with our friends at first book. We have always done private fundraising, and we are stepping that up. Host now, do you the two organizations and, carol rasco, if youd start, do you see yourself as competitors, collaborators or how . Guest well, we see ourselves as collaborators. We get asked that question all the time about competitors. As jane has already mentioned, we have a significant number of rif programs who purchase their books from the marketplace that she mentioned. But we have always looked for all kinds of ways to be able to collaborate, and when the federal grant went away, first book put together a wonderful proposal and came the rif with this proposal to allow us to purchase books from them in a manner that would really allow us to purchase about 250,000, 200,000 more books than we would normally get for the same dollars spent elsewhere. And so were very excited that were going to be giving this one million books over the next several months and were at this very moment starting the first distribution of those. Were focusing as rif is doing much of our work this year on the outofschool time, when children are out of school for the winter holiday, spring break and summer, and were going to divide these books up among those times. Rif will produce activity sheets that will go home with these books over this outofschool time with the hope that through the school stressing it to parents or other groups that we Serve Private nonprofits that the parent will get engaged with reading with the child in the outofschool time. So theres a lot of excitement. The first book and r irk f staff about this project right now. Host Jane Robinson . Guest yes, carols exactly right. We are collaborators in the extreme. Carol is a fantastic educator and has led the sector for a long time. And not too long, carol, of course. [laughter] guest of course. Guest but we have, you know, first book has built a supply pipeline that supports programs like carols, like reading is fundamental and many others who are doing fantastic work. Our primary model has been to build until logistics that can provide tremendous access for programs and classrooms serving kids in need. Because that was a huge gap that was missing when our founders founded first book 20 years ago. They one of them, kyle zimmer with whom carol is a great friend with, was volunteering here in washington, d. C. And realized that here were heros, local heroes supporting the kids who needed help the most in an environment that would work for hours and hours a day, and they were absolutely without resources. Just a box of broken crayons. If they were beyond the reach of programs like rif at the time, and many, many were. So what we realized was, well, we can certainly solve one part of this problem. We can build a pipeline to get resources to them. Programs like rif and others are increasingly devoted to what kind of content is on, is available to these programs and how they use that content in the class room. And we consider ourselves soldiers in the same war, taking on that challenge and expanding beyond what weve reached so far so we can get completely across the United States and beyond with fantastic resources. Jane robinson, do you work with Public Libraries . Guest we do. We like to, um, be sure that we get brand new books that are chosen by the administrators and teachers. Thats our primary focus. But we absolutely have worked with our Corporate Partners to supply School Libraries with brand new books, and weve had multiple initiatives that focus on really replenishing libraries. As a matter of fact, right now in response to hurricane sandys devastation weve got a web site up, and were working with partners to, um, raise funds to purchase terrific replacements for libraries in the new york and new jersey area. Host carol rasco, have you moved into the ebook world at all . Guest well, not in a big way yet. But we have certainly been exploring it, and we dont discourage it. Many of the schools and children we serve most have not had access to the, you know, the piece of equipment. And so we have been looking at how can we promote that, because very frankly, in addition to wanting children to have books and get them engaged and we know that the ebook is great way to do that for many children i above all do not want to look back ten years from now and say, oh, my goodness, we let another Digital Divide occur. We want to make sure that the children were serving have the opportunity to learn how to use the ebook and what is there and what it can mean to them. So we know our friends at first book are working on that kind of thing, and i cant help but think in another year or two thatll probably be a project that were doing together. Host Jane Robinson, you are working on ebooks . Guest we are. Were working on a digital platform so that we canning burst boundaries of we can burst boundaries of all kinds of limitations for these kids. You know, if anyone is confused about whether there really is a divide, let me reassure everyone that theres a horrible gap in this country. 32 , and that is not a misstatement, 42 of the kids in the United States are from low income families. That means they simply dont have the kind of access to Educational Resources and books that children of means have. Thats a lot of kids. Its over 30 million kids. And if were going to bridge that gap or divide or inequity, whatever you want to call it, weve got to build a substantial system that can afford ably get those resources to them. That doesnt mean books are going away, but it means that digital content, digital devices and the terrific research and learning from people like the cooney center, all of these resources have got to be brought to what is called the base of the Economic Pyramid globally. But theres a base of the Economic Pyramid here in the United States too. And weve got to bridge that for the or kids. And thats what first book aims to do. As carol said, weve got a large plan to get a digital platform built, and were about to do that working hand in hand with terrific organizations like rif. Host now, carol rasco, former first ladies barbara bush and laura bush made reading their, one of their signature issues when they were in the white house. Do you see a difference in support when Something Like that happens, when its that high profile . Guest well, we certainly did, and rif was fortunate to have both of those first ladies on their Advisory Committee until they went in the white house when youre forced to get off every committee youve ever served on. But the visibility that each brought with them to the white house whether they were still serving on any official board or committee was extremely helpful. And they both have foundations that have had that continued to live. So its, its certainly a big help when people like that in those positions of power are helping people see that there really are children out there who do not have a single book in the home except and what we hear most often when we talk to children of lesser economic means, youll say do you have a book at home, and we know were getting ready to hand them one, or we would never ask that. And the two most common things we hear is my mother has a book wrapped up in special cloth she keeps in a drawer, and you realize its some kind of family bible thats very special and the people will know it or they will talk about that book with the yellow paper, and, of course, thats now going away, and there are no yellow pages in communities anymore. So i think thats difficult for all of those who had all the books we could have ever wanted whether owning them or going to the library frequently as i did in a very southern town in arkansas, you know, i went twice a day during the summers. There wasnt a whole lot else to do, and i loved to read. Its hard for us to belief that there are no books in a home for a child, the child lives too far from a library to walk or ride a bike if they have a bike. Fitting the library into a familys schedule when theres little free time, perhaps no Good Transportation or they cant afford it. That is difficult. So its, its again critical that we believe these things were being told, that these children are in need of one of the most basic things that most children get very early in life, and thats books. Host Jane Robinson, youd have 60 seconds to make a pitch to somebody who may give you, your organization money and to a parent. Whats your pitch . Guest i think the pitch is believe us, there is a gap in the United States. Weve got to provide the heroes who are serving kids in need with the resources they need. Were losing geniuses, peter. Were losing geniuses because theyre not given the educational tools, the books that they need to make their imaginations spring to life and have a rich, full life. You know, this is a work force issue, health care issue, its a citizenry issue. People wont vote if they dont know how to read. Weve got to enrich from the bottom up so that kids know they have a chance and can make a new life for themselves. Host carol rasco, whats your pitch . Guest well, today we have children entering the schoolhouse doors that are already so far behind their peers with one set of figures i often use based on a very good study that was done a number of years ago, and we had kindergarten children entering the school who were from welfare schools that had a listening vocabulary of 3,000 words. That sounds like a lot of words for a child to when they hear it know what it meansful however, children of upper middle income families had a vocabulary of 20,000 words. Thats a huge gap. And, unfortunately, in this country we never close that gap. So we need to start early, and then we need to be ready to really pour the resources that jane discussed into the earliest years of children being in a School Setting where we can try to reach them best. Host carol rasco is president and ceo of reading is fundamental. Ms. Rasco, whats your web site very quickly . Guest rif. Org. Host and Jane Robinson is chief Financial Officer of first and the web site . Guest firstbook. Org. First, written out. Host and we thank you both for being on booktv and talking about your reading programs. Guest thank you. Guest thank you. Is there a Nonfiction Author or book youd like to see featured on booktv . Sent us an email at booktv cspan. Org, or tweet us at twitter. Com booktv. [applause] well, good evening, everybody. Hello, everyone. Im mitchell caplan. Ca im [inaudible] welcome. [applause]on b on behalf of all of us with thee Miami Book Fair, we want to welcome you to the 29th book fair, believe it or not. [applause] this is a remarkable undertaking. It it takes the work of literally hundreds and hundreds of volunteers. We have a remarkable board of directors who work extremely hard at doing this year round. None of this at all could happen without the good, good support of everyone here at miamidade college, and lets give them a huge round of applause. [applause] and were particularly appreciative of the sponsors. Without the sponsors and the funding from foundations and governmental agencies, we would not be able to bring you all this wonderful literary extravaganza. And, of course, our friends. Many of you are friends to have Miami Book Fair. And a way that you can support this book fair and make sure that it goes on for another 29 years as well. [applause] if you, if you look at downstairs, theres a friends booth, and youre more than welcome to sign up if youd like. Id also like to tell you that make sure you pick up a fairgoers guide on your way out. We have a Remarkable Program this year. Tomorrow night, in fact, we start not at night, but around 4 00 with lemony snick. For all of you who have got kids i see her hes coming with his new series, and hell be here at four oclock followed by junot diaz, wonderful writer, and chris hayes, many of you may know him from msnbc. And hell be there ending the program that night. We also have an Incredible Program that happens in spanish and other languages as well. And we have some more than 70 writers from Different Countries , from latin america and spain that will be with us as well as the featured country this year, the country of pair guy. And we invite you to the opening of the pavilion next thursday, and we will have the first lady of the country doing the honors of opening the pavilion. So please come by, learn about their culture, traditions and their literature throughout the whole weekend. And if youll welcome if youll excuse on a personal note, ive been working with alina very closely. Alinas the executive director of the center here at the college. Before that she was the executive director of the Miami Book Fair for i wont tell you how many years. [laughter] it was a lot of years. A lot. And its just been announced that alina is now the director of executive director of Cultural Affairs for the entire miamidade college. We want to congratulate her on her new appointment as well. [applause] thank you, thank you. Im looking forward to that. And part of my new responsibilities is to also work very closely with Miami InternationalFilm Festival celebrating 30 years in march, and we have the director with us here this evening. So mark your calendars for that one as well. [applause] and my secret hope is that youll see ballet with books in them, and youll see opera with books in them. [laughter] so alinas influence will be everywhere, i think. And can i just take two more minutes of your time to see if you can join me in we can nicing mitchell for 30 years of books and books. [applause] for his leadership, for his mission. [applause] thank you. Thank you. Wow. Again, alina said that we couldnt do this without our sponsors. We also couldnt do it without our publishers who support us, and were very, very fortunate to have in our midst one of the really most brilliant publishers that we have not only in this country, but probably worldwide. His name is michael peach, and hes the publisher of little brown who is tom wolfes publisher. If hell stand, i would hope he could be recognized. Mike . There he is. Thank you, michael. [applause] welcome. Thank you. And our sponsor, one of the really great sponsors that weve had for many, many years, theyve been really huge supporters of the Miami Book Fair, and thats wpbt, channel 2. And to get our program off the ground, i want to bring out the executive Vice President and chief operating officer, delaware hour race sukdeo please, please, welcome her. Thank you all. Have a good evening. [applause] thank you, everyone, and welcome. My name is delores, im the coo for wpbt2 which is your Public Television station. [applause] now, what i love about the Miami Book Fair is that for me it represents how we should be known here in miami. Sure, we have beautiful beaches, weve got some interesting politics. I think increasingly well be known for our wacky characters. But if you look to the person to your right and if you speak to the person to your left, what you will find are engaged, informed, cultured citizens and in growing numbers. We are a smarter city than we gi