Reading Fairy spreads her magic to Chicago
BY JENNIFER AMATO
Staff Writer

Tracy Brown, a former researcher and kindergarten teacher from North Brunswick, is now focused on developing her Reading Fairy products.

NORTH BRUNSWICK - The motto of Cinderella is "A dream is a wish your heart makes."

Tracy Brown, the self-proclaimed Reading Fairy, wants to become a household name such as Cinderella, with her dream being to appear on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" as part of the "Search for the Next Big Idea." The former kindergarten teacher, who developed her own literacy activity kit five years ago, visited Chicago on Friday to pitch her product line during the nationwide product search held by Oprah Winfrey and QVC.

The 38-year-old North Brunswick resident, who also goes by the name Rita Book, started her career in science, working for Colgate-Palmolive doing product development and research. She combined her love of education with her business knowledge and created the Read and Eat Activity Kit, an individual package that allows families to sit down and read together while preparing and enjoying a healthful snack whose ingredients are included.

"I really got a great reaction from it, but it was a slow evolution. I liked doing it in my class, and other teachers would say would I do it in their class, and I would go to Barnes & Noble. I would do it more and more times, and my dream became a reality," she said.

Brown, who says she is "Oprah's number-one fan," watches Oprah's television show, listens to her satellite radio program, reads her magazine, attends her workshops and visits her Web site, which is how she found out about the competition. She registered online and then joined hundreds of people who gathered from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Donald E. Stephens Conference Center, each having their own 15-minute time slot to explain their product. Brown spoke with a judge at 11 a.m., explaining how she reads a book and then prepares a snack, even engaging the judge in the preparation of chocolate "dirt" in reference to the book "Harry the Dirty Dog"; Brown smashed the cookies as she sang a song about stirring, just as she would with a group of students.

"It was so pressured because everything happened so quickly. It was very well organized, so it went by very fast," she said.

Brown said she is confident about the interview because she appeals to the target audience, since Oprah promotes reading, loves food and is fond of teachers. Yet she was most excited during the actual screening process because the judge she encountered remembered her from a previous appearance at a QVC event at which time the Reading Fairy concept was introduced.

Another bonus was her incorporation of a DVD depicting her program, which she filmed at Parsons Elementary School. Through her Rock, Read & Eat! workshops, which include music and movement to tire kids out so they pay attention to the stories, she gears her work mostly toward kindergartners and first- and second-graders. She makes appearances at schools, libraries, bookstores, churches and synagogues, restaurants, parades and birthday parties across New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Thus far, Brown has compiled four different kits, with a shelf life of about a year, such as "The Snowy Day," which includes marshmallows, pretzels and chocolate chips to make snowmen, and "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," which includes gumdrops and homemade frosting. She believes her concept is so appealing because children are intrigued by her costume and they learn to enjoy recreational reading rather than see it as a chore because of the manner it is presented in.

"Reading is just so important. I want to capture their attention by making it fun, and they don't realize they're learning," she said.

Another aspect of her program is to empower girls to follow their hearts and accomplish their dreams. She said she wants to "inspire people, inspire girls, inspire women, inspire small businesses, to live their dreams and be passionate about it. For me, it's about inspiration."

Her other goal is to promote family togetherness. Brown was the eldest of three siblings and had 32 cousins, all of whom share wonderful memories of time spent together throughout their lives.

"I think you're going to be creating memories. It's an opportunity to come together and create good old-fashioned fun. People have so many things to do separately, and this brings them together," she said. "Our job is to create memories. I had a wonderful childhood … and I just had fun … remembering those things and laughing about it, so for me the best part about it is that they will always remember that."

Joyce Dreger, a first-grade teacher at Parsons, has seen the memories being made firsthand. Her students, who learned how to write letters, sent Brown thank-you notes after she performed for their class, expanding upon the skills taught in the classroom to their recreational activity.

"The children very much enjoy it," Dreger said. "They enjoy the music and the movements she did with them. … It was very interactive … so they're focused and they listen and then they had the chance to participate in making a snack … so they really had a good time. It was a great experience for them."

In the future, Brown would like to hire consultants to help facilitate her program, and is in the process of finding a male Reading Knight to accompany her. "When" she appears on Oprah, as she likes to say, she will be open to the endless possibilities that will come about afterward, particularly her dream of having her own television show.

More information about the Reading Fairy is available at RockReadand

Eat.com.

Ten product lines will be chosen to appear on the "Oprah" show and then the audience will choose their favorite to appear on QVC. The results will be in by April 27.