When Jennifer and I celebrate our new holiday-themed books with an event at Austin’s BookPeople on December 5, we’re going to spotlight the store’s annual Giving Tree charity program.

Guests buying any hardcover children’s book to donate to Giving Tree will be in the running for the giveaway of signed sets of Jennifer’s Revenge of the Angels and my own ‘The Nutcracker’ Comes to America.

Giving Tree is benefiting three local nonprofit organizations this year, and this week I’m going to tell you a little bit about each of them.

WSP

The mission of the Women’s Storybook Project (WSP) of Texas is “Connecting children with their incarcerated moms through the joy of literature.”

Volunteers travel to women’s prisons in Texas to record mothers as they read books for their children. Judith Dullnig, director of WSP, explained to me how it works.

“The moms give a short message, read the book or a chapter of a book, give another message, then we mail the recording and book to their child,” Judith says. “This way the children have a chance to hear their moms read a story while she is away.”

Judith emphasizes the importance of the child hearing his mother’s voice, and she has shared some comments from some of these mothers:

“My child takes the book and recording to bed with him.”

“My child talks back to the tape recorder.” [WSP recorded on tapes then.]

“My child took the tape and book to ‘Show and Tell.'”

Just last week, WSP received this note from a child:

Dear Storybook Project,

I love the books and I want to read MORE, I enjoy it very much.

Thank you for bring me and my mom close together. When are the next books coming?

Senserliy,

[Child’s signature]

P.S. -I read my books with the C.D. all the time!

Thank U! [a heart around “thank you”]

Partners of these incarcerated mothers benefit from the program as well. Judith passed along these remarks from a husband:

Hello and Thanks Women’s Storybook Project,

My name is Jack and my wife is serving sentence and away from our daughter. We received the CD and book package from you. Our daughter was so excited when we received the brown package with her name on it. And when she saw that it was the story from her mommy she was even more excited. It was she and mommy had come together.

The timing of the package was so perfect because it was at her birthday and this was such a special gift because it was from mommy whom she loves so much. She has shown it to everyone who has been at our home. She cherishes this special gift and even wants to sleep with it. Thanks so much and I hope that the Project touches every as it has touched our lives.

And thank you, Bartography readers, for anything you can do to spread the word about WSP, the Giving Tree, or the BookPeople event on December 5.