Reading Event Tonight in Maryland

This is the 4th time we have attended. Always good to see and hear 41 and Mrs. 41.

http://www.strathmore.org/eventstickets/calendar/view.asp?id=4268

Maryland Celebration of Reading
Monday, May 11, 2009 at 7:00 PM
Music Center at Strathmore


The Maryland Initiative of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy
Celebration of Reading

Doro Bush Koch and Tricia Reilly Koch proudly host the 6th annual Celebration of Reading, an incredibly warm and engaging evening with Doro’s parents, Barbara and President George H. W. Bush, some of their favorite best-selling authors, and a wonderful audience of family literacy supporters.

Held in the Concert Hall at Strathmore, A Celebration of Reading is the annual fundraiser benefiting the Maryland Initiative of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. Doro and Tricia invite all to join them in their family’s life-long passion, and applaud the gift of literacy and the transformational effect that reading together has on families.

The reading program is a "theatrical performance" that stands apart from all others based upon its spontaneity, humor and warmth. Best-selling authors are: Brad Thor, whose newest high voltage thriller, The Last Patriot, debuted at #1 on the New York Times Best-sellers List, Pulitzer Prize winner Doris Kearns Goodwin, one of the most acclaimed historians of our time; Kelly Corrigan, author of the New York Times best-selling memoir, The Middle Place; Chef Art Smith, personal chef to Oprah and author of award winning cookbooks Back to the Family and Back to the Table; Jeff Kinney, the hottest children's author and creator of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series; and “Coach K.”, Mike Krzyzewski, Head Coach of Duke University Men’s Basketball Team and of the gold-medal winning U. S. Olympic Men’s Basketball Team.

Surprise guests and musical entertainment have become a hallmark of the show, as has an inspirational testimony from a special guest of honor, a student whose life has changed by becoming a literate participant in society, and whose family has benefited from the work of the Foundation.

Following the program, all guests attend a supper among friends and each guest goes home with a complimentary book written by one of this year’s featured authors.

that sounds like a fun evening, pops. will we get to see photographs of you in tuxedo?

say hi to the pres and the mrs. from me....remind me in november to tell you about my relationship with them....it is truly a small, small world!

No tux for this event. Last time 41 was there he came rolling in on a Segway.

My wife helped get the event organized today and all the workers were given a book from each of tonight's readers. Quite a haul!

Diary of Wimpy Kid has been smoking hot..all four of them......as has Middle Place..... Team of Rivals is on the wane

Daniel Silva is good and I loved Doris Kearns Goodwin's WAIT UNTIL NEXT YEAR. The city of Glen Cove participated in a Long Island readathon and her book about growing up a Brooklyn Dodger fan and her relationship with her Dad and baseball was really wonderful. Amy

Wow! What a night!

Opening act was a young woman who befitted from the Literacy Program - pregnant at 16, dropped out and now is working on her GED. She and her 5 year old took the stage and they talked about how reading is bringing them together.

Jeff Kinney was next, a programmer by day and a writer by night. Funny, funny guy who is trying to convert 10 year old boys to readers.

Kelly Corrigan had a wonderful tale of becoming an adult through being a cancer survivor. On my list.

Doris Kearns Goodwin -- what a speaker, what a life of history all brought on by giving her father a "historical" recount the the day's Dodger game. After the presentations, she was mobbed with people pressing the flesh, so I whispered in her ear: "red or white, you look dry". White and bless you was returned. I think I've made a friend

Art Smith was good in his "food is love is family" talk. Brad Thor showed his TV persona in his story of becoming an author on his honeymoon. I've read that after 9/11 he was one of the fiction authors consulted on the "next big attempt".

Coach K. batted cleanup and tied the whole evening together by talking about all the authors in his close. His book was written with his youngest daughter ("married an Italian, which I had a problem with. I like names with consonants, not vowels. He is good guy and an Iraq vet" Good to be in Maryland and be greeted with applause). His book is all about the standards and moments of the Olympic team and he shared some video from the team meetings. Powerful stuff.

41 and Babs opened the show and she talked about how after her aortic valve replacement (pig valve) he was oinking around the house and now says she started the swine flu He is having trouble walking, but his brain was fully engaged.

Wow, what an enjoyable and inspiring event, John! Thanks for sharing your experience...

I know you will enjoy Kelly Corrigan's book. It's as much about her relationship with her father as it is about her cancer.

I'm glad to be reminded about Brad Thor. I read The Lions of Lucerne a while back and enjoyed it. I'll look for his latest...

Thor was a totally engaging speaker and talked about seeing the lion monument in Lucerne http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion_Monument and knowing it was his title.

Sounds like another event I would have loved to attend. Glad the evening was a success. Great program and good that it got to be appreciated by many. Amy

sounds great..I've heard Coach K speak many times and he never disappoints...no surprise he batted clean up..and if any of your new found friends want to have a wonderful free weekend in a beautiful mountain resort while doing a book signing in a very sharp little independent book store....

you know where to send them,!!!...LOL