Amy's "A Book on Every Bed" campaign

DEAR READERS: Last year at this time, I announced the launch of a homegrown, grassroots literacy campaign in this column called "A Book on Every Bed." Working with the Family Reading Partnership (familyreading.org), a small literacy nonprofit in Ithaca, N.Y., we hatched a simple plan with a far-flung goal: to foster a generation of readers.

Our idea was to put a million books at the foot of a million beds for a million children on Christmas morning. This simple idea spread to parents, teachers, librarians, publishers, writers and readers.

By January, when I counted up the enthusiastic responses to this campaign, it seemed we might have actually reached our lofty goal.

Unfortunately, statistics on reading and literacy are alarming: Less than half of young children in this country are read to regularly, and a large percentage of American families report that they have no children's books in the home.

Introducing books and reading very early in life will write indelibly on a child's future. Here's how it works: Take a book.

Wrap it.

Place it on a child's bed so it's the first thing the child sees on Christmas morning (or whatever holiday you celebrate).

"A Book on Every Bed" is an appeal to spread the love of reading from parents to children. We also want to encourage families to share books by reading aloud.

Parents who raise children surrounded by books and stories give their kids a leg up in life, because children who love books grow up to be good and attentive listeners. And kids who read for pleasure have ready access to heroes.

Wrap it and read it together. This is a simple concept with only one goal: To create and encourage a generation of readers.

Readers can see a home video of me reading with my favorite toddler at

familyreading.org.