Bonding over Good Books

   I first met Jaime Sarrio, the Post’s education reporter, when she came to Nesbit Elementary School to write a story about a mentoring group called Fertile Ground. 

   I’m long-term subbing at Nesbit and I just happened to stroll into the media center when she was getting ready for her interview. (Contrary to what many think, I do not work at the Post. I simply zap my column in to my editor every Thursday night.)

   Jaime and I recognized each other from our pictures in the paper. I don’t know if it was the mood created by thousands of books around us, but Jaime started talking about her favorite children’s book. 

   “I loved ‘Bridge to Terabithia,’ even though it made me cry,” she said. I hadn’t read it as a child — it wasn’t written until I had a 2-year-old child of my own — but I shared with her my memories of “Adam of the Road,” a novel about a 13th century teenager.

   Later I realized both of our favorite books were Newbery Medal winners. The Newbery has been awarded for the best children’s literature since 1922, and the Caldecott for best children’s illustrations since 1938. 

   How cool would it be, I wondered, if every child read all the Newbery and Caldecott winners before they graduated from high school? 

   With all the constant changes in the curriculum and textbooks and with so many children bouncing around from school to school, wouldn’t it be wonderful for them to all to have at least that much consistency in their childhood? And it would give them the ability to initiate a conversation with a total stranger about something they know they have in common.

   But how would teachers keep track of it all? The answer came a few days later while I was browsing through the Nesbit media catalog on the computer. 

   “Hooked on Reading” by Marguerite Lewis is a treasure chest of crossword puzzles based on all of these award-winning books. Wow, I could try to see how many of these books I could read to my ESOL during my stay as a sub.

   I was curious to see if the kids were familiar with any of them, so I took a few children from Allyson Booth’s second-grade ESOL class to the library. We looked at the Caldecott poster.

   “Oh, Ms. Booth read us ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ and the ‘Snowy Day’ and ‘Hey, Al,’” said Uriel.

   “Look, Mrs. Larson, ‘The Polar Express’ is a movie,” said Kathya.

   Uriel ran over to the shelves to find “Joseph Had a Little Overcoat” so he could show me the cut-out pictures. 

   Karina related to me the stories of “The Little House,” “Lo Po Po” and “Make Way for Ducklings,” then took me by the hand to show me where they were. 
Now these are children with limited English. Just imagine how reading good books could bring us all closer together.

Susan Larson is a Lilburn resident. E-mail her at susanlarson4@yahoo.com. 

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