<p>I was one of the lucky bloggers invited to a conference call with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonia_Manzano">Sonia Manzano</a>, who played Maria on Sesame Street.&#0160; Sonia is working with <a href="http://www.firstbook.org/site/c.lwKYJ8NVJvF/b.674095/k.CC09/Home.htm">First Book</a> and <a href="http://www.firstbook.org/site/c.lwKYJ8NVJvF/b.1552321/k.B398/First_Book_Partner__Cheerios.htm">Cheerios</a>&#39; Spoonfuls of Stories Program to stress the importance of books and&#0160; instilling a love of reading early on.&#0160; </p>

<p>Did you know that Cheerios has given away 20 million books since 2002?&#0160; Awesome.</p>

<p>I&#39;ve been a bookworm since I was a little girl.&#0160; My parents encouraged me to read everything I could get my hands on, and I am forever grateful to them for that.&#0160; </p>

<p><strong>PSST!&#0160; <a href="http://www.theliteracysite.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/CTDSites.woa">Click Here</a>, then click on the red button.&#0160; You can&#39;t miss it.&#0160; Each click funds 1% of a book, to be given away to kids who need them.&#0160; I never ask you for anything, so please do that for me.&#0160; Pretty please????<br /><br /><em>Did you click?</em>&#0160; <a href="http://www.theliteracysite.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/CTDSites.woa">DO IT</a>.</strong></p>

<p><strong>(Thank you.)</strong></p>

<p>So I&#39;m on the call and at some point they open up the call to us so that we can ask questions (to Maria!&#0160; From Sesame Street!&#0160; OH MY GOODNESS!)&#0160; and wouldn&#39;t you know that the first person on the line was another superstar?&#0160; Ms. <a href="http://www.underpaidkeptwoman.blogspot.com/">Susie Sunshine</a> (herself!) was brave enough to go first.&#0160; OH MY GOD I LOVE HER AND I HATE HER BECAUSE HER TEMPLATE SHOULD BE MINE!&#0160; But there she was, and I got to hear her voice.&#0160; </p>

<p>It is a lovely sound.</p>

<p>I also asked a question, just to be able to say that I spoke to Maria.&#0160; My hands were shaking and I was feeding Goldfish to my son in a desperate attempt to keep him from acting up in the middle of the call.&#0160; (Because, what would Susie Sunshine think of me?)&#0160; He did OK.&#0160; I, on the other hand, almost passed out from the adrenaline rushing through my veins.&#0160; I totally forgot to use my blog name and I totally kissed up to Maria.&#0160; (&quot;Hi!&#0160; I went to school in Miami!&#0160; We are like sisters!&#0160; Please, wise Maria, teach me how to raise a bilingual child!&#0160; Forget the other bloggers with real questions about literacy!&#0160; Make it about ME!&#0160; ME! ME!)</p>

<p>I kind of feel bad about that, my apologies to those of you whose time I wasted.&#0160; </p>

<p>Yet, I must point out that Maria spoke directly to ME.&#0160; </p>

<p>Nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah!</p>
