It’s a busy summer for the recreation department in Yountville. No school so what is there to do? I wouldn’t have thought that going to the library would be at the top of a grade schooler’s list, but I’m happy to say I was wrong thanks to an event arranged by Marianne Lyon along with her Friends of the Yountville Library (FOYL). Marianne, a former music teacher and former Poet Laureate of Napa Valley, is the perfect friend to have when you write a book about poetry. She asked the FOYL to purchase copies of The Bunny Poets and the Library Book!
Me to Marianne: “Did you say you want 30 books?”
Marianne: “Yes. You heard right.”
Me: “Wow, thanks! And did you say that children attending the summer rec program would receive these books free of charge?”
Marianne: “Yes.”
All I had to do was order books, sign them, read them and work with Marianne on the event at the library.
We created a presentation using Bonny Bunny’s poem at the end of the book. With simple hand gestures to match the rhyme 5- to 7-year-olds, recited the poem. What fun it was to see the kids read along with their own copies.
At the end we asked the kids to pick out their favorite words from the book. After all, poems are made up of words and I hoped it might inspire them to make up their own poems. We got lots of different answers: bunny, sky, swing, all of these from the book. I handed out bookmarks to each child.
Then there was what I thought a very shy child. I asked him to repeat his word twice because his voice was so soft.
“The,” he said.
“Ha! Okay, very good,” I said. “That is a word from the book. Take a bookmark!”
How inspiring!
Cute
Oh so great. It is so rewarding when we first learn to talk, to read, to write. I was a voracious reader and always accused of padding my tally in books read during summer contests. Mostly Dr Doolittle. Then I discovered large type Readers’ Digest editions. I followed David’s lead and took speed reading in college. It paid off when offered the book of Federal Acquisition Regulations for the weekend. I think first to you teach a child to read, then you teach speed reading/comprehension in the upper grades. You have stirred the reading curiosity of those children, well done, Barbara!