We are United with Paris

The civilized world is grieving for and with Paris.  I felt that I had to address this staggering event in my blog this week.  One might ask why staggering? After all, it is only one country.  But it is more than that my friends.  Much more.  

What happened in Paris on Friday, November 13 struck a blow at all humanity.  This author is certainly not going to use this blog post as a political forum. 

But what I want to do is to showcase the poignant piece of art that I actually saw on Facebook.  We all know that our Statue of Liberty was given to the United States by France in 1868.  I hope you find the relevance of this drawing as touching and freedom driven as I do.  And I hope we can all come together as a human community to put an end to this kind evil. 

Pray for Paris.  Pray for all humanity.

US Ranked 23rd in the World Spent for Reading

A new infographic outlines how many hours people around the globe spend reading books, and the United States is ranked 23rd on the list.

Below, are listed the top 30 countries–sorting them by mean hours spent reading. Russia Beyond the Headlines created the infographic using data from the World Culture Score index, a list compiled in 2005.  Have a look:

Consumers in India are most likely to spend time reading, at an average of 10.7 hours per week, followed by consumers in Thailand and China (at 9.4 hours and 8 hours per week respectively). At 3.1, 4.1 and 5 hours respectively, individuals in Korea, Japan and Taiwan fall to the bottom of the reading list.

What can we do in the U.S. to improve this, according to your humble blogger, deplorable statistic?  We can read to our children.  That is the solution.  So many kids in this country suffer from a deficit of parental and/or caregiver involvement in their reading health.

We need to read to them.  We need to model good reading habits ourselves.  We need to make an interest in reading front and center in our lives.  It rubs off!  

This is not a good statistic for the U.S.  And we can change it, if not for ourselves, certainly then for our children.




Hours Spent Reading Around the Globe

1. India 10.7
2. Thailand 9.4
3. China 8.0
4. Philippines 7.6
5. Egypt 7.5
6. Czech Republic 7.4
7. Russia 7.1
8. Sweden 6.9
9. France 6.9
10. Hungary 6.8
11. Saudi Arabia 6.8
12. Hong Kong 6.7
13. Poland 6.5
14. Venezuela 6.4
15. South Africa 6.3
16. Australia 6.3
17. Indonesia 6.0
18. Argentina 5.9
19. Turkey 5.9
20. Spain 5.8
21. Canada 5.8
22. Germany 5.7
23. USA 5.7
24. Italy 5.6
25. Mexico 5.5
26. U.K. 5.3
27. Brazil 5.2
28. Taiwan 5.0
29. Japan 4.1
30. Korea 3.1

Books for Africa Receives Donation

I have featured Books for Africa several times on this blog.  It is such a worthwhile and noble charity, so this news is especially wonderful.

Books for Africa, the St. Paul, Minn.-based organization that collects donated books and ships them to schools and libraries in 49 African countries, has announced that the Nigerian-based Sir Emeka Offor Foundation has donated $600,000 to BFA. It is the largest cash donation BFA has received in its 25-year history. 

The money will be used to ship 1.1 million books to Nigeria, as well as to The Gambia, Somalia, Liberia, Tanzania, Namibia, Senegal, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Botswana, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Egypt, and Malawi.

The Sir Emeka Offor Foundation was founded by a Nigerian business entrepreneur in the mid-1990s to “positively render assistance” to those in need, “irrespective of tribe, creed, religion and nation.” 

BFA Founder Tom Warth with students

The foundation, which emphasizes health and education programs in Nigeria and beyond, began partnering with BFA in 2010 to ship books to Nigeria and The Gambia. To date, the foundation has sponsored the shipment of 640,000 books to those two countries through BFA, including 110,000 books in 2012 as part of BFA’s “Million Books to The Gambia” campaign.

Since 1988, BFA has shipped 28 million books to Africa from the United States.

Guardian Angel Publishing Family Blog--July Edition!

Hello, Everyone out there!  The new Guardian Angel Kids Family Blog is here.  It is crammed full of fun things for kids to do--with and without their parents. 

Please take a look at the site.  It's going to be a hot 4th of July weekend lots of places in the US.  Take advantage of this fun stuff to keep kids cool and occupied!

To you in the United States, have a wonderful and safe holiday.  And to others around this globe, I hope your weekend is a lovely one as well.

Manatee Alert!

Manatees are gentle and slow moving mammals.  They are wonderful, caring parents to their young.  And they are in danger.

Twenty five percent of all manatee fatalities are related to boat encounters.  Since manatees stay close to the surface where they must breathe, boat propellers harm them regularly.

Save the Manatee Club does amazing work in aid of these animals. Take a look at their homepage, and support this worthwhile cause.


The closest relatives of the manatee are the elephant and hyrax. Manatees can be found in shallow, slow-moving rivers, estuaries, saltwater bays, canals, and coastal areas — particularly where sea grass beds or freshwater vegetation flourish.

Manatees are a migratory species. Within the United States, they are concentrated in Florida in the winter.

Many of the Florida manatees make their home in the waters around Homosassa, which is about forty five minutes north of Tampa.