How We Got Started

Teach Me to Read, Mom!  was started by a veteran literacy teacher and mother, Donna Vona, M.Ed.  As a master's level regular and special education teacher, she became concerned with the lack of necessary early literacy skills among her students.  She noticed that once they reached the third grade, this deficiency resulted in a disproportionate number of students requiring special education services.  After a five year intensive study of effective early literacy instruction with an early literacy expert, Donna became interested in authoring her own first-time reader books.  The hope is that these books would spark a love for reading and simplify the teaching of reading, so that all parents could start giving their children the necessary reading skills before the start of formal education, thereby giving them every opportunity to have the most success and excitement possible in the reading process.

Teach Me to Read, Mom!  took wings when Donna's three year old, free-spirited daughter wanted to read; but that was not something that was available in any pre-school program.  An unsuccessful attempt to get her daughter's pre-school teacher to allow her daughter to read, resulted in her daughter begging, "Teach Me to Read, Mom!"  Donna felt fortunate that she knew how to adjust her instruction to ignite a passion for reading that remains to this day.  She is excited to share her expertise and her enthusiasm for early literacy with the next generation of readers and their mothers (or those that do the mothering!) Her daughter, now 22 years old, continues to love to read. She brings her sense of humor and passion for the written word to co-author the Jack series.

Donna and her daughter Elena Vona share a wonderful bond formed through the gift of adoption.  It is their hope that others will enjoy the stories of Jack and Pip, based on the hilarious real life adventures of their forever family. Their ultimate goal is to fully use their God-given gifts, so that they can offer the opportunity of a rich early literacy experience to every child.