Here’s the 2009 team line-up:
Join the fun!
]]>On the last day of school I was surprised when one of the children announced she wanted to read to me because she’d been particularly shy, rarely raising her voice above a whisper.
As children often do, she looked at a book and made up her own story. “Once there was a boy who wanted a cat,” she said in a very confident voice. As she turned the pages, I realized there was no cat in any illustration. Her entire tale was of a boy who wanted a cat but never got one. What a wonderful storyteller she was, making up a story about something not seen on any page!
Gay Guard-Chamberlin
Kalamazoo Public Library
Volunteer Reader
I am the coordinator of the Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants and Children (W.I.C.) at the Family Health Center in Kalamazoo. As a Ready to Read program site, we give gift books to families with children from birth to five years of age and encourage parents to read aloud. Earlier this week I had an opportunity to model for a mother, the power of a book. I was working in my office and heard a child whining in the next room. I went to see if I could help. I asked the 3 year old, who was squirming in his mother’s lap, if he wanted to read a book with me, and he said yes. I went to retrieve an oversized copy of “The Snowy Day” and I began to read the story aloud to him. The boy was intrigued by the pictures of the snow and fascinated by the fact that he could not see the boy’s feet because they were covered by snow. We continued a wonderful conversation about the story. Before they left the office, the child’s mother told me that she was amazed by the amount of time that this book held his interest!
Irene Allgaier, MA RD
WIC Coordinator, Family Health Center
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Though having little experience reading to children, especially preschoolers, I've found my participation to be extremely rewarding. The kids have short attention spans and are easily distracted if a storybook character should happen to wander by while you’re reading your book. But, if you’re fortunate enough to have a “good” book, and if you're prepared to make your delivery a little “over the top,” the kids are, during those few short moments, eager, attentive and utterly captivated. This year I was lucky enough to read a book with “pop ups,” and it was precious to see the kids’ faces momentarily “light up” when the page was turned and the story literally “popped” off the page at them.
This is a unique and special event for preschoolers in our community; for hopefully getting kids excited about books so that we might increase childhood literacy in our community and, in turn, open up a world of opportunities. I hope there will be continued support for this event and, should you be offered the opportunity to participate as a reader, I would encourage you to accept.
Kurt Sherwood
Miller Canfield
Kim Elliott
Kalamazoo Regional Chamber of Commerce
Mary Lou Fleckenstein
Kalamazoo Public Library Volunteer Reader
Child Care Resources and child care providers through out Kalamazoo County are honored to have been a part of Party in the Park from the beginning. Started as a small gathering of children and their caregivers in Bronson Park twelve years ago, this year’s Party in the Park is expected to draw more than 1500 children! Gathered in groups around the park, children will be enchanted by storybook characters and community leaders as they read their favorite books to the children. Every child will receive a free book to take home, a drink and snack.
Child care providers in homes and centers, parents and grandparents are invited to bring their preschool children to join us at Party in the Park on Wednesday, May 27 at Bronson Park in downtown Kalamazoo. Please RSVP to 269-553-7886 with the number of children and adults.
Party in the Park, an event in honor of “Stand for Children” day, is sponsored by Kalamazoo Public Library’s Ready to Read program, Bronson Children’s Hospital, Great Start Programs of Kalamazoo and Child Care Resources.
Robin Frisbie-Cummings
Child Care Resources
Imagine my surprise when I encountered a child of three, who, I believe, had little or no experience with books. At first I watched her wander the children’s area, aimlessly active, but with no concentration, really quite physical. Finally she approached me and sat down, and I selected a short book to read to her. She seemed not to know which page to look at first or how to follow my lead in pointing to picture clues to the story, and she would not be engaged in trying to predict future action. She fidgeted, then walked away from the story and continued to move around the waiting room, swinging her arms full circle. I asked her mother if the child liked books, and was told that, no, she didn’t, that they didn’t read at home.
I have been haunted by her since, and saddened. I feel sad for a child without books to stimulate her imagination and for a teacher who will someday try to ignite the curiosity for learning which young readers bring. She has missed the joy of shared pleasure in the pages of favorite books, of lovely pictures and delicious words, of giggles and rhymes and satisfaction in simple things. The good news is that Ready to Read works in our community to ensure that all children are exposed to books early in life. As a volunteer reader, I had the opportunity to introduce that child to books. Next time she visits the doctor, a volunteer will be waiting to read another story. Reading together is an act of love. Share the love.
Martha Beverly
Kalamazoo Public Library Volunteer Reader
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Donna Lou Ritter, M. D.
Pediatrics, PC
One of my favorites is Baghead by Jarrett J. Krosoczka, which features a child going through his day with a brown paper bag on his head because... well, I don't want to spoil the surprise ending.
I've taken to keeping a couple of brown grocery bags in my Ready to Read tote just in case a bout of shyness keeps the kids close to the parent urging them to, "Go ahead, listen to a story."
I stand the bag, complete with holes cut out for eyes and a mouth, right next to the book and, yes, if it comes down to it, I'll even put it over my head. Luckily, someone can usually be counted on to wear the bag over his or her head while I read. Then we pass the bag around so the children can share what they would do today with a bag on their head.
When I've earned their attention, I still thrive to keep it once the bag has served its purpose.
Two other books the children enjoy are Max Found Two Sticks by Brian Pinkney and The Big Yawn by Keith Faulkner.
Max finds two sticks and proceeds to tap out rhythms he hears out on the street. I encourage the kids to use their fingers as two sticks and tap along with Max.
In The Big Yawn, we yawn along with all the animals "Opening their mouths' to yawn," as darkness overtakes the jungle. Use caution with this one, though, as it tends to make everyone, including the reader, rather sleepy.
The first step to volunteer reader strategizing starts at the grocery store when asked, "Paper, or Plastic?"
Go paper.
Beth Carter
Kalamazoo Public Library Volunteer Reader
At every age level, the books that we are privileged to give to our patients are received with keen enthusiasm.
We revel in the 6 month and 1 year olds who get hold of a book and start eagerly exploring it with all of their senses (plus saliva), the preschoolers who immediately ask a parent or an older sibling to start reading this treasured new acquisition to them “right now”, the school-entry-aged children whose fearful anticipation of immunizations is so often ameliorated by the appearance of a book they can “take home to keep.”
In our electronic/video age, I feel fortunate to be able to give families a tangible reminder that reinforces the message we give them about the importance of early and frequent reading for their children’s educational, social, mental, and spiritual growth.
Often, as I give a book to an older child, the parent has remarked to me that the book that I gave that child at a previous examination has been his/her favorite for years – Big and Small for the one year olds and Goodnight Moon for the two year olds are particular standouts.
It has been fun for me to distribute books that I enjoyed as a child. At the same time, I am somewhat wistful to think that many families are unfamiliar with books that I consider children’s classics. Ready to Read has allowed me to introduce a new generation to Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, Caps for Sale, Curious George, Blueberries for Sal, and Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit, to name a few.
Many thanks to the Kalamazoo Ready to Read Program and to its many supporters! Thank you Andrea! Keep the books coming!
Mark Blazek, M.D.
Pediatrics, PC
Two of them give me a strange look, unconvinced. The other actually looks torn between the two options. I let him off the hook, suggesting he play first and then come back if he wants to hear a story later.
I read a book to myself, out loud; just loud enough so that it appears interesting, yet softly enough so that they would have to silence the activity table to hear me. They do just that: silence and listening. For some reason they must be re-invited before they'll give in to a book.
When we've reached the end of a book, I'm handed three more, from three different hands. "Read this one next!" We reach the end of our fourth when someone walks over and tells them it's time to go.
One stands up, puts his hand on my shoulder and says, "Mom, look," as if to say, "Look what I found."
They all wave to me, smiling as they leave and I feel that for a short moment my books and I were something surprising and wonderful that they have found... something like treasure."
Beth Carter
Kalamazoo Public Library Volunteer Reader
Betty Sanford
Kalamazoo Public Library Volunteer Reader
Nancy Kehrle,
Loaves and Fishes Volunteer