Last week, 826 Valencia staff members flew down to Los Angeles to join 826LA in celebrating their first book release party. Students at Animo Inglewood Charter School worked with 826LA tutors and coach Phil Jackson to create a book of essays, entitled Rhythm of the Chain: Young Writers Explore Teamwork. Coach Jackson even missed Game 7 of the NBA finals to join students and their families for the evening's festivities! To purchase a copy of the book, email pilar@826la.org.

While down in LA, we also had our first annual 826 National meeting with 826 representatives from San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, and Ann Arbor, MI. We spent two days at the beautiful 826LA writing center talking about our respective sites and sharing new ideas. We're already looking forward to the second annual meeting next year!