Now read this: Fresno County sheriff, late author’s son team to boost child literacy

The son? He had hundreds of copies of the children’s book authored by his late dad that he was looking to give to a good cause. The Fresno County sheriff? She has a program that promotes literacy, literally by giving books out of the back of her deputies’ patrol cars.

A match was made and on Monday morning completed, as Kevin Garcia donated 100 of those “Henry the Brave Little Tractor” books to Sheriff Margaret Mims and her Sheriff’s Reading Posse in a ceremony also attended by California Assemblyman Jim Patterson.

“Brave Little Tractor” author Morris F. Garcia, a pilot and former president of the Central Valley Aviation Association, died in December at 81.

“So the last six months or so, I’ve been thinking of something to do with these books,” Kevin Garcia said. “When I saw the Reading Posse program, I decided that was the way to go.”

Kevin Garcia said the story is based on an actual tractor his father bought and includes characters named after family members.

“The book has some history in it, and it’s an excellent lesson for kids,” Mims said.

Mims said she formed her Sheriff’s Reading Posse in 2012 to combat child illiteracy. She said thousands of books have been given away over the years, with deputies stocking the trunks of their cars and handing them out to youths they meet while on patrol.

If it helps with her primary mission — fighting crime in Fresno County — all the better.

“The idea was that we can reduce crime if we can improve literacy in Fresno County,” Mims said. “I want to deputize children to read.”

Patterson, also the former Fresno mayor, remembered Morris Garcia on Monday as a friend.

“This would please ‘Morrie’ to no end,” Patterson said. “He wrote this, I think, with this kind of opportunity in mind.

“There is a legacy here that will expand and help 100 young people read a story about a brave tractor and maybe it will encourage them to grow up to be brave and caring people.”