{giveaway} Cheerios Spoonful of Stories Prize Pack and $25 Barnes & Noble Gift Card

As a former teacher, I know that reading never starts too early and should be introduced to children at a very early age. Fostering a love of reading is easy to do and builds life-long skills while expanding creativity.

Over the past seven years, Cheerios Spoonfuls of Stories has given away more than 35 million children's books by distributing them free inside cereal boxes and has donated nearly $3 million to First Book, their non-profit partner, which provides books to children from low-income families.

This year’s free in-pack book offerings, appropriate for children ages three to eight and written in both English and Spanish, include:

• All the World, by Liz Garton Scanlon and illustrated by Marla Frazee, which discusses the many wonderful things a child can encounter in the world as well as the commonalities all the world shares.
• Chaucer’s First Winter, by Stephen Krensky and illustrated by Henry Cole, follows a bear named Chaucer, who knows he is supposed to sleep through the winter but feels it’s much more fun to stay up and play.
• Jump!, by Scott M. Fischer, chronicles the adventures of a bug, a frog, a cat, a hound, a crocodile, a shark, and a whale, who all love to jump!
• No T. Rex in the Library, by Toni Buzzeo and illustrated by Sachiko Yoshikawa, is a story about a little girl named Tess and her adventures in the library with a boisterous T-Rex.
• The Purple Kangaroo, by comedian Michael Ian Black and illustrated by Peter Brown, which is a vivid and humor-filled story that tricks the reader into thinking about a purple kangaroo.

In an effort to help combat this issue, Cheerios, as part of its Spoonfuls of Stories initiative, will also make a $300,000 financial donation to First Book, an award-winning national nonprofit that helps get books into the hands of children in need. Cheerios has donated more than $3.5 million to First Book over the past nine years.

To learn more about the Spoonfuls of Stories program or to donate to First Book, visit www.spoonfulsofstories.com beginning November 1.

To help spread the word and remind us about the importance of literature, Cheerios and My BlogSpark have teamed up to bring one lucky reader:
*  FIVE Picture Books from the Spoonfuls library (We LOVED these stories, especially "No T. Rex in the Library")
*  A Box of Cheerios (YUM!) 
* A $25 Barnes & Noble gift card

These books are great for preschool-elementary aged children with their cute story lines and even bilingual text!!

Wanna Win?
Here's how to enter:

1. Complete the entry form below. All information will be kept private.
2. Giveaway closes on Thursday, Dec. 16th at 12:00pm MST.
3. Winner will be announced here (First Name, Last Initial) and contacted via email. He or she will have 24 hours to respond before I select another winner.

 If you can't see the form below, go HERE to enter!

Disclosure:  The information, prize pack and giveaway all were  provided by Cheerios through MyBlogSpark.  .