Tessa Schmidt, the director of UW–Madison’s Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC), was recently highlighted in two stories from the United Service Organization (USO).
Schmidt and her family were interviewed by the USO about their experience as a military family. Schmidt’s husband, Brett Schmidt, is a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve and frequently on deployment.
In the features Schmidt discusses single parenting, her family’s love of reading, and more.
“With (Tessa Schmidt) being a former Wisconsin Librarian of the Year, and Brett himself a proponent of reading, the whole family has a passion for reading,” one article states.
The Schmidt family uses the USO Reading Program to connect with each other while Brett is deployed. “Through this program, service members can record themselves reading a book to their child; the recording and a copy of the book are then sent to that service member’s family, so that, in a way, they can be present for story time back home.”
“Brett would be the first to say it — if one person is serving in the military, everybody in the family is serving,” Schmidt tells the USO.
Read “We’re with Brett: A father staying close to his kids throughout deployment via the USO and their family’s love of reading,” and “We’re with Tessa: A military spouse navigating deployment and solo parenting on her own.”
Administratively housed in the School of Education and also supported by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, the CCBC serves as a resource to Wisconsin schools, teachers, librarians, and others interested in children’s and young adult literature.