A
Tale of Two Melissas This
story begins with two Melissas.
They lived miles away from each other and had never met. They had different childhoods and
backgrounds, but they had something very big in common. That ‘thing’ is a love of reading - but
not the casual, pick up a book by the pool kind of love, more like an
all-encompassing, intense kind of love. From
the time each of them could hold a book, they wanted to read it, carry it
everywhere, save it and display it. They both read while they ate, in the
car, on the way to school. It may
sound unbelievable, but they both had dreams of working in a children’s
bookstore. Time
passed...Melissa G.
graduated from Syracuse University, earning a dual degree from the S.I.
Newhouse School of Public Communications and the College of Arts &
Sciences. She worked in
advertising for Ogilvy & Mather and then went on to earn an MBA from
Columbia Business School with a concentration in marketing. She later worked in
marketing for Citibank and Colgate-Palmolive. Melissa
Y. graduated from
Fairfield University, earning an English degree with a dual concentration in
Literature and Writing. She worked
in Publishing for Ziff Davis Media and then went on to earn a graduate degree
from Notre Dame De Namur University in Elementary Education with a
concentration in literacy. She taught grades K–5 in both CA and NY City, with
an emphasis on the reading process. So
many changes, but books remained the constant for both of them. They each still dreamt of working in a
bookstore, although by then they really wanted to own the place! The Melissas welcomed five children
between them and their lives were forever changed. The
tale could have easily ended there, without their paths ever crossing. But, by some twist of fate, they ended
up in the same small town outside New York City, where their children and their
love of reading brought them together.
And then a funny thing happened.
They watched their children develop their own love of reading and the
two Melissas found that not only did they love books, but they also enjoyed
sharing them with their kids, their families and their friends. One
more ‘thing’ changed for them and this one was influenced by the way the world
had evolved around them. That
dream of a bookstore turned into a vision of a virtual book community…a place
where it would be possible to easily navigate the myriad of children’s books
out there to find the ‘just right’ book.
A place to help adults match young readers with books at just the right
reading level and interest. And
that is why they created if
the book fits… In
addition to developing this website and reading – a lot – they are on the Board of
Friends of their local library and they are continuing their post graduate
education, by focusing their studies on the importance that reading plays in a
child’s development. THE
END (well, actually, it’s just the beginning!)
