David Baldacci furthers literacy causes through Wish You Well Foundation and Feeding Body & Mind

It is perhaps obvious to frequent readers of this column that the Mystery Series Examiner, a former librarian, has a special interest in mystery writers who in addition to creating excellent works of fiction also promote efforts to improve literacy. David Baldacci, author of the the Sean King and Michelle Maxwell series, the Camel Club series, and the Shaw and Katie James series, advances this cause through the Wish You Well Foundation.®

Michelle and David Baldacci formed the Wish You Well Foundation eight years ago. Their organization fosters family literacy in the United States by developing new literacy programs and by expanding current ones.

The Baldaccis explain the need for their foundation on the organization’s website  in these words: "Imagine your daily life, the information you process, the decisions you make based on that process and the actions you take based upon your decisions. Now imagine doing all these things while either being unable to read or reading at a below-average level. Well, you've successfully imagined the daily lives of nearly 100 million people, half the population of the United States."

The Wish You Well Foundation extended its scope recently by collaborating with Feeding America,™ the Chicago- based hunger relief charity that distributes food to over 200 U.S. food banks. That collaboration resulted in Feeding Body & Mind, a program that collects new and used books and then distributes them through the Feeding America Food Banks. Baldacci, who is also a regular contributor to Parade Magazine, explained this newest endeavor in an article entitled “Changing Lives Through Books”  which he wrote for its July 11, 2010 issue.

Authors Rita Mae Brown, Sandra Brown, Michael Connelly, Richard Paul Evans, Linda Fairstein, Sue Grafton, Brad Meltzer, Katherine Neville, Lisa Scottoline, and Adriana Trigiani also provide support to Feeding Body & Mind during their book tours by letting fans bring books to be donated to the program to their signings. A schedule of these events is available on the Feeding Body & Mind website. Readers wishing to make additional contributions to the Wish You Well Foundation or to Feeding Body & Mind can also obtain further information at the organizational websites.

For more information:
David Baldacci to write final book in second series of ’The 39 Clues’
Investigation Discovery's 'Hardcover Mysteries' to premier on October 11, 2010
Sisters in Crime supports libraries through its ’We Love Libraries!’ lottery
James Patterson’s ReadKiddoRead encourages librarians to promote reading with $2500 award
Linda Fairstein sees literacy as a means of improving the lives of crime victims
Karin Slaughter spearheads program to ‘Save the Libraries’