First Lady Schedules Local Visit

First lady and potential New York Democratic Senate candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton will be coming to Cambridge next Wednesday to hear the story of a pig rejected from Harvard Law School (HLS).

Clinton will be in town to attend a fundraiser for the Boston children's literacy charity Reach Out and Read, of which she is a longtime supporter.

The event, to be held at the Charles Hotel on Bennett Street, is expected to raise thousands of dollars for the charity. Though Clinton may attend other events in the Boston area that day, the First Lady's office said yesterday that she would not attend any events at Harvard.

The fundraiser is a launch of David Mamet's new children's book Henrietta, about a pig that applies to Harvard Law School. Mamet, a Pulitzer-Prize-winning and Oscar-nominated author and playwright, will read portions of the book.

The fundraiser, which is charging $250 per person, is by invitation only.

The money raised for the charity will go toward expanding Reach Out and Read, a program in which doctors urge parents to read to their children via book donations.

Currently the program is active in 46 states and at 600 individual sites. It hopes to move into every state, as well as increase the overall number of sites.

Several hundred individuals were invited to the event, most from the Boston area, according to Hawkins & Widness Public Relations International, which is coordinating the event. Because plans were finalized only at the end of last week, the firm was unsure of how many people would actually attend.

"It will be a pretty casual affair," said Erika Vizes of the Charles Hotel.

She hopes the atmosphere will be festive, with some holiday spirit. Music and hot chocolate are both on the menu.

The guest list was compiled from a variety of sources, according to the firm. Those invited include friends of the Charles Hotel owner Richard Friedman, who is a major regional real-estate developer.

Friedman is a friend of Mamet's, and the title character of Mamet's book, Henrietta the pig, is named after a pet pig Friedman kept at his Martha's Vineyard estate for many years.

Friedman is also no stranger to the Clintons--the first family stays at his Vineyard estate during their annual summer vacation.

Friedman has also been a major contributor to President Clinton's past campaigns as well as many other Democratic Party causes.

Henrietta 's format is that of a typical children's book--31 pages, a short text and watercolor illustrations.

However, the book's subject is more advanced.

An intellectual pig named Henrietta aspires to be admitted to Harvard Law School, but the admissions office turns her down. After the rejection, Henrietta wanders around Cambridge until she meets a vagabond philosopher who helps her achieve her dreams.

The launching of a children's book fits well with Reach Out and Read's mission. Established in 1989, the program asks doctors to encourage parents to read to their children, starting at the age of six months until the children begin school. The program also asks doctors to give parents one children's book at each checkup.

The idea is that children involved in the program will enter school with the beginnings of a home library.

"We find reading to children as young as six months helps to get them ready for entering school," said Helen L. Roberson, Reach Out and Read's office manager.

Clinton has been involved with Reach Out and Read before. She made the April 1997 announcement of a national partnership between the program and a book publisher, among others, and she also attended the program's 10-year anniversary celebration at Boston Medical Center in June.