Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Candlewick Press’ Ongoing Support Allows Service Members to Bond with New Babies, Even Halfway Around the World

December 12, 2018

For military moms-to-be whose spouses are deployed, the joy and excitement of pregnancy can be bittersweet. To help ease the stress of deployment and bring joy to these courageous women, United Through Reading has partnered with Operation Shower since 2015 to give children books to new military moms and dads, and to ensure they are aware of the free service United Through Reading provides to keep parents’ bonding with their new babies no matter where duty calls.


At all the Operation Shower events, military families are given a chance to come together and celebrate, and each of the honored parents receives a “Shower In A Box” – filled with amazing must-haves for both babies and parents. Because of the continued generosity of Candlewick Press and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt each of the 600 boxes that were given out in 2018 included the classic children’s books, Sam McBratney’s Guess How Much I Love You and Sweet Dreams, Curious George by H.A. Rey along with information on using United Through Reading as a resource to keep their growing families together despite their distance.

New mom Hannah Simmons had the following to say about her spouse using United Through Reading, “I currently live in an area without friends or family, so this deployment has been extra tough (not to mention my pregnancy emotions are in full force). But receiving this DVD and hearing my husband’s voice reading to our unborn baby truly melted my heart. To some, it may just be a man being recorded reading a book, but to me it was reassurance from my husband that I am not alone, that despite the miles, he is supporting me, supporting our family and the new chapter of parenthood we are crossing into.”

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