For every order on our website, The Incredible Book Give-Away (IBGA) program offers an additional free book to the buyer with the expectation that it will be donated to a person or place of his/her choosing. Through this process of giving we hope to inspire literacy through charity.
*Please note, if you wish to receive a free IBGA book with each book you purchase, you will have to create a separate order for each single book. For example, if you wish to order three Snickeyfritz books but order all three together as one order, you will receive a total of four books in the mail. If you place each of the three book orders separately, you will receive a total of six books.
To kick off The Incredible Book Give-Away program I gave a copy of Snickeyfritz to 250 selected individuals in Wisconsin and asked that they pass on the book to someone in need or an organization that would benefit from the donation. The 250 people invited to donate a book forward are a diverse group, ranging from children, such as Girl Scouts and art students, to prominent Wisconsin Leaders such as Milwaukee Mayor, Tom Barrett; Congresswoman, Gwen Moore and alderman, Michael Murphy. Also participating are leaders in education and arts such as Executive Director of the Wisconsin Arts Board, George Tzougros; Executive Director of the Creative Coalition of Greater Milwaukee, Christine Harris; and the Co-Founders & Co-Directors of Arts@Large, Kim Abler & Teri Sullivan. The list also includes journalists and television personalities, such as TMJ4‘s Morning Blend Co-Hosts, Molly Fay and Tiffany Ogle; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Reporter, Jan Uhelbelherr; and Executive Producer, of the Lake Effect Milwaukee Public Radio, Mitch Teich. Additionally there are literacy advocates such as the Director of the Milwaukee Public Library, Paula Kiely and business leaders such as the Senior Vice President of Corporate & Legal Affairs for Direct Supply, Bob Klein.
Here are some of the stories I have received from people who donated a book forward...
Jane Moore - Artist
I donated the book to Meg, a Methodist pastor in Milwaukee for her 2 daughters. We have been friends with the family for 20 years and I gave Meg the book at an Advent gathering yesterday when 5 families were all sitting around the table after our meal. Meg read the book to all of us and we had a great time reminiscing and talking about all the expressions in the book. Meg loves the book and can't wait to begin reading it to her daughters. She is a pastor at a residence for Senior Citizens - I can see how sharing the book with some of her flock there could provide a catalyst for some fun discussions. At the Advent dinner while reading the book we all remarked about how fun, colorful and descriptive the words used in Snickeyfritz are- just the sound of the words and expressions is fun. With the use of 'texting' on phones where everything is so abbreviated and terse- no time for melodic and colorful words there- the Snickeyfritz is a good antidote to that- and hopefully will remind us of the richness of our language and that we need to keep it alive for the generations to come! Thank you Andrea!
Cheryl Rehm, Preschool Teacher, YMCA
It took me awhile to decide where/whom would benefit the most from it, and I realized as I was checking out at the grocery store. We always have the same lady bag for us-a very simple, yet sweet woman who struggles through life to make ends meet. She is someone that always remembers our names and what is going on in our lives. She has a couple of kids and from looking at her she doesn’t seem to worry about what she doesn't have, but rejoices in what she does have. I gave the book to her today. She was beyond excited. She asked if she could give it to her kids for Christmas. I didn't see any harm in this, and from the joy on her face, it was worth it. So, thank you for helping me to make someone's Christmas special. It warmed my heart today.
Karen Holm - Teacher, COA Youth & Family Center
I was excited to hear about your Incredible Book Give-Away. I gave a copy of your book to a family from my church. Eight months ago they were blessed with a baby boy- their 4th child. He was born premature and with many of the complications that go along with it. Daniel was in and out of the hospital many times this year. This family has 4 children and I am sure that the times that they can share together reading will help each and everyone of them. Thank you for letting me be a part of The Incredible Book Give-Away.
Kari Couture - Community Arts Specialist, Milwaukee Public Schools
I gave my copy of Snickeyfritz to my friend's Little Sister (through Big Brothers, Big Sisters). She is a fifth grader who wants to be an artist when she grows up and is really interested in illustrating books. This book gave her a new idea about how she could make a book and publish it herself! Thanks for doing this unique project, I was happy to be part of it!
Kathleen Mohr - One Mohr Production
I have donated my book to a little boy who is extremely creative (and because he helped out once at a library program with puppets, he considers himself "puppeteer!") This book will be treasured by him and I know he is very grateful to receive such a nice gift. Perhaps he will grow up to be a real puppeteer! Thank you very much.
Mary Stuart - Teacher
I donated my copy of Snickeyfritz to a little girl named, Hannah Pierson. Hannah will be three years old in March. Never the less, she already has lots of promising pre-reading skills. She is very inquisitive and has a large vocabulary. She reminds me of the little girls in the book. I know she will have lots of questions and opinons to offer her grandmother as the story is read to her time and time again. Thank you for letting me be a part of The Incredible Book Give-Away that seemed to have captivated such an imaginative little girl as she thumbed the pages and rattled on and on about the pictures.
Michael Flanagan- Gallery Director, Crossman Gallery UW-Whitewater
My book was donated to the Walker's Point Center for the Arts. I am on the Board there and we do an extensive program for children who mostly come from our neighborhood on the near south side of Milwaukee. Your great book will be part of the library for the children who come to the Center and may be an inspiration for some of them to achieve something significant in their lives. Thanks again.
Nani Murphy - Artist
I gave my copy of Snickeyfritz away yesterday. I gave it to a little girl who lives across the street from me. She lives with her grandparents and I've known her for about 4 years. She's in first grade so she just started reading this year, and I thought it was kind of fun that the inspiration for the book came from letters that you and your grandma wrote to each other. They said that they had seen the characters at the children's museum a few years ago, so they were excited to have a copy of the book.
Rose Carr - Retired Principal, Milwaukee Public School
After reading and sharing the book with my mother who has Alzheimer's, I donated the copy of the book to the residents at Homestead Ridge Assisted Living Memory Care Unit, to be used to read to other residents and I'm sure they will enjoy the book and the story for years to come. Sometimes it hard to determine if the residents enjoy something or not, but when a smile comes upon their face at the story and pictures you know you have a winner. Your book was a winner-congratulations!
Teri Sullivan - Co-Founder & Co-Director, Arts@Large
I donated my copy to Coulee Christian School in West Salem Wisconsin, along with a bag of books that I collected at rummage sales this summer. Snickeyfritz was definitely the highlight of the group. My nephews attend this school and I've visited a couple of times. I was distressed to see how few books were in their library and on the shelves in their classrooms. It is my goal to fill the shelves with books to broaden their horizons. Your gift of Snickyfritz will brighten the shelves and brighten their classrooms.
Tiffany Ogle - Co-Host, The Morning Blend, TMJ4
I just wanted to let you know I donated the book yesterday. I'm hoping the way I did it is in line with your hopes for sharing. I had the book in my purse and was going to donate to a bookdrive....however, I was at COA at Bayshore having lunch and there
was a young boy who was crying and the mother had a 6 month old baby as well as him and she was having a really hard time getting him to calm down. I have many nieces and nephews so I'm not someone who gets wiggly when a child cries in public, its normal! However, this continued for a while and the mother was desperately getting him anything to calm him and people were starting to stare...even the waitress offered a refill to help. So, in themiddle of a good conversation with my friend I asked him, what he thought of me helping them out by giving the book to him? Would it help? Would it embarrass the mother more if I approached the table?
Being the holiday season, and seeing her desperation at getting his tantrum under control, as they were getting up to leave after failing to get him under control, I went up to them and said, "would you like to see a book I have?" He stopped for a moment and with a big pouty lip, he nodded. I opened it up and showed him some of the illustrations in Snickeyfritz and he was immediately interested and the waterworks stopped. I said to him and the mother, "Maybe you'd like to keep the book and share it with your little brother and friends?" He nodded and looked for mom's approval. She said, "Are you sure"...and I said "Absolutely, it's to be donated for the Holidays and this seems to be a good fit!" She gratefully smiled and said to Eli, her son, "Say thank you Eli to the nice lady." I wrote his name inside, as he watched, so he knew it was his and reminded him to share it with his friends. I told him when he's big enough or knows the story well enough, he'll have to read it to his younger brother. He smiled, and relief and a silently lipped "Thank You" came from mom.
Sometimes giving is best when it's intimate, a helping hand, a smile, and done when no one is looking on a small scale. I know they enjoyed the book that night, and even more, I know it made a busy mom's life a little easier and brought a smile to otherwise tear-filled eyes. I know Eli will enjoy Snickeyfritz, and hopefully share it with friends or have creative family moments before bedtime with mom and dad reading it. So often we get annoyed by anything that interrupts our day...but if we stay in the moment and realize there may be a way we can help, we are given a golden opportunity to make a small difference in someone's life. Thank you for allowing me to help someone during the holidays - I'm glad it wasn't put in a huge book drive piled under a stack of other books, because instead, I saw the face of Eli light up and know exactly who will benefit from thecolor-filled excitement of Snickeyfritz.
Thank you for letting me be a part of The Incredible Book Give-Away this year.
Tracy Melger - Art Specialist, Dover Street
I donated the beautiful book to one of my 4th grade students. I'm the art specialist and she is one of my most creative students, and my cadet helper at the end of the day, she works hard and loves to read. When she told me she has her own special place set up in her room that she goes to read each night, I knew she was the one, as I was considering the other 300 kids at school to give it too. I know that she will cherish this book, read it in her special spot and probably share it with her little sister. Thanks again!
