Love for Limerick

“F. Scott Fitzgerald said there are no second acts in American lives. I think I’ve proven him wrong. And all because I refused to settle for a one-act existence, the 30 years I taught English in various New York City high schools.”

—Frank McCourt, author of Angela’s Ashes and ‘Tis and donor of The Leonard Collection to the University of Limerick Library

McCourt also supports “the St. Vincent de Paul Society in Ireland who kept my family alive in Limerick. I’ve been a supporter for 20 years. I used to send them $50 when I was a teacher.”

Biz Chess for Cattle Ranch

All proceeds from Bob Rice’s upcoming THREE MOVES AHEAD: What Chess Can Teach You About Business will go to the Imus Cattle Ranch for Kids with Cancer in Ribera, New Mexico.

5th Avenue’s Free University

“It’s a free university for everyone, from children to scholars. I’ve always loved this Library, particularly for the way in which it serves all people and entirely without cost to them.”

—Stephen A. Schwarzman, on the New York Public Library, to which he just donated an unrestricted $100 million.  

Loraxism

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

–the remorseful Once-ler in Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax

Check out the fate of the Truffula trees in The Lorax video.

Banking on Books

Find out how to get new books to children who need them at the First Book National Book Bank (FBNBB).

Apply for books. Volunteer. Donate. Become a publishing partner. The First Book National Book Bank gives books to children from low-income families across the country.

www.firstbook.org

“How to Change the World…

…Without Losing Your Way.”

Hillary Rettig’s THE LIFELONG ACTIVIST will teach you how to:

1. Manage Your Mission
2. Manage Your Time
3. Manage Your Fears (Stop procrastinating!)
4. Manage Your Relationship With Yourself
5. Manage Your Relationship With Others

How I Eat Without Wheat…

…is a new & entertaining picture book for kids who can’t eat gluten & wheat. Author Karen Fine uses rhyming text & illustrations in her story of a boy who regains his health by changing his diet.

For info on celiac disease (travel tips, free camps, how to help, etc.) go to www.celiac.org. The site has a new section called Gluten-Free Friendly Restaurants. The first restaurant list is for the Los Angeles area; more cities will be added soon.

Bill’s New Book

“We cannot build our own future without helping others to build theirs.”

—Bill Clinton, author of Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World , due out September 4th.

How to Be a Literacy Booster

The Children’s Book Project gives new & gently used books to kids who need them. Since 1992, the Children’s Book Project has collected & distributed more than a million books to San Francisco Bay Area shelters, schools, community centers & daycare facilities.

Be a literacy booster & learn how to build a children’s book program in your area. www.childrensbookproject.org.

THE FOUNDATION: A Great American Secret

Joel L. Fleishman‘s primo book on the foundations that pump more than $30 billion dollars into the American economy each year. PhilanthroTitans Andrew Carnegie, George Soros, Warren Buffett, Michael Milken and Bill Gates are discussed.

Fleishman advises foundation officers to focus on: 1) discipline, 2) boundaries, and 3) persistence. If a foundation is disciplined in its efforts, sets boundaries in its mission, and applies its funds and expertise to the same problems over and over, success will come.

Well-researched, informative and readable, Fleishman’s book is worth more than a look to anyone interested in what foundations do; how they work; who runs them; how to make them more effective and accountable.