Alyson Beecher and Alethea Allarey

Alyson Beecher is an educator, writing mentor, book geek, and blogger. During the day she works with elementary school students. Her passion is getting her students excited about books, reading, and writing.  She also believes that it is critical to partner with teachers, librarians, authors, illustrators, booksellers, and publishers to support efforts to connect children and teens to books.

Alethea Allarey is a former bookseller and loves everything from picture books to adult fiction. She currently blogs on Read Now, Sleep later where she reviews materials for young readers and connects them to book events in the area. 

Together, Alyson and Alethea co-founded the grassroots organization, "Bridge to Books." They wanted to see people come together from various disciplines to share thoughts and ideas, with the overall goal of getting children excited about books and reading. Their core group consists of about 30 educators, librarians, publishers, authors, booksellers, artists, and teen readers. Through"Bridge to Books,"Alyson and Alethea help out at the popular festival, "Pasadena Loves YA," connecting readers, authors, and librarians with panels, signings, giveaways and more!