Throughout the month of February, children’s sing-along book author and vocalist Bridget Burton (known to her local La Jolla neighbors as Barbara Burton Graf) will be “sharing the love” by continuing her “Delivering Smiles” campaign she started during the holiday season. For every book purchased, Burton had been donating the digital version of her book to local nonprofit organizations that support children in need – such as the San Diego Rescue Mission, Children’s Hospital, Women’s Resource Center, among others, to put smiles on the faces of as many children as she could during the unprecedented pandemic holiday season.
Having received warm and heart-felt gratitude from both the book purchasers and the donation recipients, Burton has decided to keep the giving going into the New Year and now, for the month of February, she is expanding her donations to teachers as well. “Knowing that teachers have been working even harder adapting to new challenges presented by the pandemic and the fact that learning [especially reading] is enhanced with music,” says Burton, “your favorite local teachers were a natural addition to my donations list.”
Burton and her puppy, now 6-month-old English Springer Spaniel Scarlett (successor to Annie about whom the book is written) “played Santa” and personally delivered the purchased books to local kids and grandkids. This month, the duo will make appearances and share the love virtually by sending a personal video message to each donation recipient named by the book purchaser.
The children’s book, Annie Kai Lani Kai Lou: Kauai’s Beloved Pup, is a sing-along that follows Annie throughout the island of Kauai as she goes on adventures such as canoeing, zip lining, and even enjoying a luau party with a Shih Tzu. Burton says, “My love for the Hawaiian Islands prompted me to write this book and knowing that children learn better when there is music involved, it was a natural add-on to put the words to music.” In addition, Burton shared that the digital version includes enhanced features such as animated text and a map of Kauai showing the different locations that Annie visits which improves or accelerates reading skills and teaches geography.
Parents and grandparents who purchase the print version for their toddlers and early readers for just $25 will also receive the music and the digital version for free and be notified of the organization or teacher that benefitted from their purchase. “Scarlett loves the camera and is excited to share her ‘puppy’ love this month!”
Digital version preview and purchase options are available at www.anniekailani.com. For more information, please visit the website or email [email protected].