This Active Life -- March 2003

Books

A Celebration of Reading
Take Off with NEA's Read Across America March 3...

NEA-Retired members are back in schools this month to lend a hand to NEA's Read Across America (RAA) campaign.

Each year, NEA-Retired members join Active teachers, politicians, celebrities and other role models to celebrate what would have been the birthday of Theodor Geisel, known worldwide as Dr. Seuss.

"Retired members have been instrumental in the success of Read Across," says NEA staffer Anita Merina. "They coordinate book drives and other Read Across activities. Retired members are the heart and soul of reading events across the country."

Iowa member and RAA volunteer Sue Wiele is a case in point. She'll be helping out on March 3 at Lincoln Fundamental School in Davenport. RAA dovetails nicely with the volunteer work she's been doing at the school since she retired 13 years ago. Wiele has been busy sending out invitations to retired teachers, police officers, and other role models, encouraging them to read to children during RAA. One of her favorite activities is recruiting older students to go into kindergarten classrooms and read to younger pupils. "Anything to convince the kids that reading is worthwhile."

Maryland member Roz Yee is another stalwart. During the six years NEA has organized Read Across, Yee has volunteered her time by answering questions for an RAA hotline and sending out resource kits to those planning to commemorate the tradition.

This year, Yee is donning another hat: a cat hat. Newly appointed the official Read Across Cat in the Hat, Yee takes the role very seriously. She should. After all, Yee is the successor to the late Jack Kinnaman, who was so dedicated, people called him "Mr. Cat." When Yee transforms into her feline alter ego for various Read Across events, she isn't allowed to speak nor be seen without being in complete Cat regalia.

A former teacher and reading specialist with 33 years of education experience, Yee believes that retirees who help children read aren't just boosting reading skills, they are preparing kids for other subjects as well.

"Reading is very fundamental," says Yee, "it provides the basics, the building blocks for children to learn all the other subject areas."

...And Support the Literacy Drive Year-Round

NEA's Read Across America, commemorated on March 3 this year, draws more than 40 million participants--young and old alike--to events across the country.

One of the things distinguishing RAA is the hard work of NEA's Active and Retired members to ensure that the focus on boosting children's love of reading never wanes after the last book is read March 3.

If you haven't already done so, get connected to boost literacy in the schools and community organizations in your area. Some ideas:

• Set up book collections for homeless shelters, children's hospitals, or homes for abused and battered children. In fact, RAA is teaming up with the Heart of America Foundation to collect books for children in need.
• Help your local NEA affiliate connect with a community partner. Read Across has 40 partner organizations, including the National Council of La Raza, Reading is Fundamental, the National Football Players Association, and the Boys and Girls Club of America, whose local affiliates are eager to get involved.
• Use NEA's RAA Resource Kit to plan reading events each month. A literacy calendar is included in the kit.
• Volunteer to provide one-on-one help tutoring a child who is having difficulty reading or who finds reading a chore.

The evidence is clear that kids who learn to read well--and enjoy it--will find more success in school. Won't you help them make reading a lifelong habit?

(For a Resource Kit to help you support reading in your community, contact: Read Across America, 1201 16th St., N.W., Washington, DC 20036; call 202/822-7387; or browse the resources at www.nea.org/readacross.)

Lorinda Bullock, Anita Merina, and Sabrina
Holcomb contributed to this feature.

Books Kids Will Talk About

If you've gone recently to buy a book for a child, or tried to select a good book that matches the interests of a student you tutor, you know that the choices are sometimes overwhelming. In the face of all those choices, recommendations from a friend or librarian are like gold.

Books Your Kids Will Talk About!, off-press next month from the NEA Professional Library, promises to help educators and parents (and grandparents) successfully navigate the expanding universe of children's books. Authors Susan Hepler and Maria Salvadore have pooled their considerable expertise in children's literature to create an annotated list of thought-provoking books guaranteed to inspire discussion among young people.

The publication's comprehensive booklists are organized around themes that are especially germane to a child's world: making friends, going to school, living in a family, growing up, making choices, and other important topics.

Each chapter begins with a brief discussion of the theme and an inspiring classroom anecdote or author interview. Books! aspires to create a community of book lovers by fostering active discussion and self-exploration among young readers.

What follows is a snapshot of some of the books featured in Books Your Kids Will Talk About! Keep these pages handy next time you're looking for a great book to recommend to a grandchild, niece, or nephew. And consider getting Books! when it is published in April. (It also would make an excellent gift for a teacher you know.) For more information, visit www.nea.org/books or contact NEA Professional Library, 1201 16th St., N.W., Washington, DC 20036.

Reading Level Key:
P = Primary (Kindergarten-Grade 3)
I = Intermediate (Grades 3-4)
U = Upper (Grades 4-6)

Books About Living in a Family

Attaboy, Sam! By Lois Lowry. Illustrated by Diane deGroat. Houghton Mifflin. (Series) (I, U). This funny novel presents a preschooler with a problem: What to give his mother for her birthday? He decides to mix all of her favorite scents in one bottle and let it ripen in his closet. Many families have celebrations that feature surprises. What makes a celebration memorable? How do different families celebrate special events? The "Sam" series also features his big sister Anastasia, who has her own series as well.

Aunt Flossie's Hats (and Crab Cakes Later) by Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard. Illustrated by James Ransome. Clarion. (P, I). Using the device of hats to call up memories, a beloved great-great-aunt shares her stories with two girls, thus passing along family tales and traditions. It's a good invitation to talk about treasures.

Emma's Yucky Brother by Jean Little. Illustrated by Jennifer Plecas. HarperCollins. (P, I). Emma is excited when her family adopts four-year-old Max, but he's not nearly as cute or as little as he was in his pictures. The transitions are difficult for everyone as Max moves from foster care into a permanent home--and for Emma, who is no longer the only child in the family. This short, expressively illustrated chapter book raises many discussable topics, such as adoption and a child's conflicting feelings when a new sibling comes into the house.

How Tía Lola Came to Visit/Stay by Julia Alvarez. Knopf. (U). When T'a Lola moves from the Dominican Republic to Vermont to help out, Miguel is mortified by her flamboyant character and her willingness to make friends with anyone. Miguel is still smarting from his parents' divorce, moving to a different community, and being different from neighbors and schoolmates. The book invites readers to talk about new situations and how families come through them.

The "Yang Family" Series by Lensey Namioka. Illustrated by Kees de Kiefte. Little Brown. (Series) (I, U). Four separate novels, each from a different family member's perspective, show how the variously talented Chinese-American siblings find their way in a new culture. Issues include the importance of music, helping parents understand the younger generation's concerns and desires, making friends, and earning money.

Books that Inspire Kids To Change Their World

Edwina Victorious by Susan Bonners. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. (U). When Edwina discovers her great-grandaunt Edwina's feisty letters to the editor, it gives her courage to write to the mayor about a neglected neighborhood playground and other civic blights. But young Edwina is too shy to write in her own voice and adopts instead that of the aunt with mixed consequences. This book introduces the concept of community activism, writing letters about matters that need changing, and learning to speak up.

Silver Packages: An Appalachian Christmas Story by Cynthia Rylant. Illustrated by Chris Soentpiet. Orchard. (I). Near an Appalachian mining town, Frankie waits each year by the train tracks for the annual Christmas train from which a present is tossed. He hopes for a play doctor's kit that never arrives, but as an adult doctor, he returns to work in the community that raised him. This story is perfect for talking about ways we can give back to the people and places that influence who we become. Silver Packages can also be found in Rylant's short story collection, Children of Christmas.

Something Beautiful by Sharon Dennis Wyeth. Illustrated by Chris K. Soentpiet. Doubleday. (P). Depressed by the negative graffiti on her apartment building, the homeless person sleeping on the sidewalk, and the debris cluttering a vacant lot, a little girl searches for something beautiful in her life. As she talks to people in her neighborhood, she gathers enough goodwill to think of something she can do to make her world more beautiful. The little girl's encounters with the people in her daily life--her teacher, the waitress at the coffee shop, the corner grocer, and her mother--help broaden her notion of just what is "beautiful."

Tomás and the Library Lady by Pat Mora. Illustrated by Raul Col-n. Knopf. (P, I). A child of a migrant farm family is changed forever by his experiences at a library and his fleeting summer friendship with the librarian. The book is based on a true incident from the life of Mexican-American writer Tomás Rivera, who journeyed from working as a laborer to becoming a university chancellor. Children learn just how powerful books can be. How can books and reading change a person? What books could be influential in our lives?