The Harold Grinspoon Charitable Foundation -- in partnership with the Springfield Public School System, Head Start, and United Way of Pioneer Valley -- gives a free, well known children's book to each of the 1,500 Springfield area students enrolled in OWL.

OWL, or "Opening the World of Learning," is a comprehensive curriculum that covers all domains of early learning. Themes, skills, and concepts are developed through quality children's fiction and nonfiction trade books.

Each month, Springfield, MA-area pre-school students are provided a quality children's book, which they take home with them via a specially designed OWL book bag. The children enjoy the book in the home, where parents read it aloud to them on a regular basis.

The well-known OWL program book titles include:

• Peters Chair by Ezra Jack Keates
• Noisy Nora by Rosemary Wells
• The Little Red Hen Makes Pizza by Philemon Sturges & Amy Walrod
• A Letter to Amy by Ezra Jack Keates
• A Hat for Minerva Louise by Janet Morgan
• Max's Dragon Shirt by Rosemary Wells
• Raccoon On His Own by Jim Arnosky
• Kitten for a Day by Ezra Jack Keates
• I Heard Said the Bird by Polly Berrien.