Malcolm Mitchell's 'giving tree' grows branches across New England

ROXBURY -- New England Patriots receiver Malcolm Mitchell had the undivided attention of youngsters at the Nathan Hale School on Monday morning as he explained to them why he has made it part of his mission to encourage them to read.

It wasn’t until he was at the University of Georgia, Mitchell explained, that he read his first book by himself. It was “The Giving Tree”, a children’s picture book by Shel Silverstein, and he picked it because it had a sticker on the front that caught his eye.

This was powerful stuff from Mitchell, the 23-year-old who played a starring role in the Patriots’ Super Bowl LI triumph and is now using his championship platform to speak to children across New England…