wanted to do, which was not take jack and annie out of children's imaginations. >> and nbc's meredith vieira, first of all, remarkable and charming and lovely, but the excitement of these books and the kid's reaction to them, you have really captured that, meredith. >> it's amazing. i didn't know what to expect. we went to several schools in nigh ark. we were with her there. the reason we were there, actually, was because only 38% -- if a child cannot read well by the end of third grade, they are four times more likely not to finish high school. if they don't finish high school, they're four times more likely to end up in prison, and those are figures figures that important to mary pope osbourne, you why she is so focused on kidding 6 to 10, to get them reading and really reading well. they love her books she clearly do had one little kid who wrote her a letter saying i will keep reading if you keep writing. she intends to write, she says, for as long as it is humanly possible. >> it is actually true, according to a lot of academic studies you that, the harry porter series already changed li

in a special airing tomorrow night on nbc, meredith vieira takes a behind the scenes look at how firstamilies have celebrated the holidays at the white house over the years. >> barbara would take the little thing off the -- >> so not true. >> i remember you. >> i did not. >> i maybe did. >> joining now, meredith vieira and "today" show contributing correspondent jenna bush hager, a little firsthand knowledge herself about white house christmases, even though they may not correspond with barbara's. good morn to boing to both of y. >> were you kidding? >> no, she would always eat it. she was the bad one. i don't know what people thought. >> jenna, you had your first christmas in the white house, how old were you? >> i was 7 years ole, whi s old obviously is a magical time to be in a beautiful place, decorated so ornately and smelled so great. our memories of spending the holidays with my grandparents are truly some of the best that we have. >> oh, my gosh. first grade, so many trees. and could you go to the white house chef and say, got any of those cookies? >> we did eat one or two chri

rick stengel, thank you so much. >>> up next, meredith vieira and jen ma bush hager join us.lies and the holidays. back in a moment. ♪ ♪ [ engine revs ] ♪ [ male announcer ] oh what fun it is to ride. get the mercedes-benz on your wish list at the winter event going on now through december 31st. [ santa ] ho, ho, ho! [ male announcer ] lease a 2013 e350 for $579 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer. >>> christmas is such a magical time. it is also i think partly such a magical time not only because of all of the work that goes in to ensuring that every year the white house looks even more resplendent and beautiful than it did the year before but that ever more people are brought in to that experience. >> barbara actually would take the little things off the gingerbread houses -- >> that is so not true! >> barbara, i remember you. >> i did not. i maybe did. >> i have two daughters. i'm not sure they get along as well as you guys do. that was a clip of a white house christmas. it gets better, right? a white house christmas, first families remember. now the host of that nb

. >> coming up next, meredith vieira has a dog named jasper.r barks a lot and her husband wants to kill jasper. our conversation with richard the would be dog killer, next. ♪ aww man. [ male announcer ] returns are easy with free pickup from the u.s. postal service. we'll even drop off boxes if you need them. visit usps.com pay, print, and have it picked up for free. any time of year. ♪ nice sweater. thank you. ♪ >> welcome become to "morning joe." joining us now, the best selling author and journalist, richard cohen who is here to talk about his latest book, i want to kill the dog. he writes about his wife, meredith phiera and the family dog, jasper. should meredith be here to defend herself? in part you write my wife delights in telling anyone that richard hates dogs. i do not hate all dogs. i like other people's dogs and i don't hate our dog. i hate the word hate. hate is so imprecise and so overused. i want him to run away and never return. that worked in the lion king. oh, my gosh. who hates the dog? you or meredith? >> meredith loves the