Chicago Children's Theatre to Present Book Drive Through 5/27

For this all-new triple bill of three Eric Carle favorites, Chicago Children's Theatre and Open Books are co-sponsoring a Brown Bear, Brown Bear Book Drive, and encouraging families to bring new or used early childhood reading books with them to the theater to donate to Chicago area kids in need.

To boost awareness for the drive, Chicago Children's Theatre has recruited a trio of celebrity reading ambassadors - Pat Quinn, Governor, State of Illinois; WGN-TV Around Town reporter Ana Belaval, and family-friendly rocker Ralph Covert - who have generously volunteered to appear on stage before a weekend performance and read from another Eric Carle favorite.

Here's the celebrity reading schedule:

Saturday, May 12, noon: Illinois Governor Pat Quinn

Saturday, May 19, noon: WGN-TV's Ana Belaval

Saturday, May 26, noon: Ralph Covert, of "Ralph World's" fame

Governor Quinn, who kicks off the Celebrity Reading series, explains "We know that the best investment we can make in our future is giving our children a good education. From birth to 5 years old is the best time to make sure our kids learn that readers are leaders. That early childhood education will be the foundation for their success for the rest of their lives. I hope these children will love reading just like I did."

To help combat this problem locally, all books collected at the theater before and after the show will be donated to Open Books, which will in turn sell the books in their store and online to support its early childhood literacy programs across Chicago. And the need is great. Just check out these statistics:

* 44% of America's 4th graders cannot read aloud fluently.
* 61% of low-income households do not have any children's books at home.
* In the last 20 years, young adults have become the least likely group to read literature.

Open Books is a nonprofit social venture that operates an extraordinary bookstore, provides community programs, and mobilizes passionate volunteers to promote literacy in Chicago and beyond. Please note: donations to the Brown Bear, Brown Bear Book Drive are tax deductible. For tax receipts for donations and complete information about Open Books, go to open-books.org.