For a quarter-century, Lucy Cousins’s inimitable Maisy has been engaging children and exciting them about reading – on a monumental scale. This big-hearted and inquisitive mouse stars in more than 100 books, across multiple formats, which have sold 35 million copies worldwide. To honor Maisy’s 25th anniversary, Candlewick Press is partnering with three nonprofit organizations supporting families and children with diverse and significant needs: Nemours Reading BrightStart!, United Through Reading, and The Molina Foundation.

Cousins expressed gratitude as well as surprise when asked what’s at the core of Maisy’s universal and ongoing appeal. “Oh, it’s so brilliant!” she said. “I never could have imagined, when I was making the first Maisy books, that I would be answering this question 25 years later. What makes me really appreciate how many years Maisy has been in my life is that I used to read Maisy books to my four children when they were young – partly as my own sort of market research team – and now I am reading them to my one-and-a-half year-old grandson. I think Maisy is a character who embodies all the best, most fun things about being a child. She loves playing with friends, and enjoys learning about the world around her, in a very playful way. Maisy embraces the experiences that children all over the world know about and understand.”

Tracy Miracle, Candlewick’s executive director of publicity and marketing campaigns, explained that Maisy’s anniversary initiative sprang from her house’s appreciation of “Maisy’s very prosperous and positive publishing life, and how many groups, including preschool and early elementary teachers, parents, and librarians, have so warmly embraced her books. We began to think about what, at this juncture, we might do to give back, and which literacy supporters we might partner with to celebrate the occasion.”

Here are capsule descriptions of the nonprofit organizations the press has teamed up with to celebrate Maisy – and a look at their anniversary initiatives, which launch this fall and continue through early 2017:

  • Candlewick is partnering with Nemours Reading BrightStart! to support its mission of helping parents, educators, health care professionals, and community leaders to promote reading success for children through specific tools, services, and resources. The publisher and this organization are creating a video demonstrating techniques for reading with a child, featuring the Maisy First Experiences Line, particularly Maisy Goes to the Hospital. The nonprofit will host a social media contest using the Maisy anniversary hashtag #25YearsofMaisy, and will highlight Maisy books on its website. New Maisy read-along guides and activities to help caregivers implement methods recommended by the organization will be available on its social media and e-newsletter.

  • To United Through Reading, dedicated to helping ease the stress of separation for military families by video-recording deployed service members reading books to share with their children at home, Candlewick has donated copies of Maisy Goes to Bed (reissued in a 25th-anniversary edition this past August) and Maisy’s Bedtime. Additional Maisy book donations from the publisher will be distributed to military families at events in various locales, including California, Colorado, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., with appearances by a Maisy costume character at select events.

  • And Candlewick will donate several thousand Maisy books in English and Spanish to The Molina Foundation, which since 2004 has worked with more than 2,500 organizations and schools to reduce disparities in access to education and health services, and to promote early literacy in the ESL and Hispanic communities. The publisher’s donation will give needy children and families across the country the opportunity to grow their at-home libraries, and will facilitate Maisy-themed reading parties featuring activities and giveaways.

Molina Foundation founder and president Martha Molina Bernadett is pleased to be a partner in what she termed “the magical anniversary celebration for the Maisy books.” Over the years, she said, “We have seen how Maisy has a special way of engaging families in the wonder of reading. It is truly inspiring to know that Maisy books have helped so many young learners in their academic and personal achievements.”

Maisy’s creator is equally pleased that her peppy character is celebrating her birthday in such worthy company. “I’m delighted that Maisy will be partnering with these nonprofits as part of her anniversary celebration,” said Cousins. “Giving books and a love of reading to small children is so important, in so many ways. These charities do fantastic work enabling as many children as possible to enjoy the enormous benefits of books, with their families, even when family members are abroad on military service. I am honored that Maisy can play a part.”