Book Donations Are Pouring In For 8-Year-Old Parma Michigan Girl

Here's a tragic story involving a family from Parma, Michigan that has a happy ending...and it hasn't even ended yet...

According to the Today show, at only 8-years-old, Heidi VanSumeren from Parma, has already been through some life-changing events. Heidi is a BIG fan of books and one of her favorite things to do was to read books to her older sister who was developmentally disabled. Sadly, Heidi's older sister passed away last year leaving Heidi with a big void in her life. Unfortunately, another tragic life-changing event happened earlier this year for the VanSumeren family. In March, a house fire destroyed a lot of the family's belongings. Among the things destroyed in the fire was Heidi's collection of books.

However, here's where Heidi's story starts to take a more happy turn. Word got out about Heidi's love--and loss--of books. Children's author and illustrator Bob Shea heard about the story and sent out a tweet about Heidi that encouraged people to donate a book to the 8-year-old. That tweet has changed Heidi's life as--at this point--over 500 books have been donated to Heidi. You can see the tweet (and address of where to send a book), pictures of the family and more by clicking here.

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