"The Adventures of Danny and Checkers” focuses on our brave literary hero, Danny, and his trusty sidekick, Checkers, who just happens to be a panda of the stuffed animal variety. In each book, Danny will don a different hat from his collection, and based on the hat he wears, he and his panda will be whisked away on an astonishing adventure full of fascinating feats and stupendous discoveries brought to life through breathtaking art.
More often than not, their fantastical adventures wind up saving the day for Danny's little sister, Mabel, back in the real world.
Reading to (and with) children is so important. One of our goals with the Danny and Checkers series is to, hopefully, get kids excited to read about a fantastic adventure and, rather slyly, learn a thing or two about creativity, fun, kindness, optimism and love.
Here are a few programs and websites that are doing great things to encourage youth literacy on a national and local scale.