Last Sunday, the elementary school that two of my kids attend, had a fund raiser at the Poughkeepsie Barnes & Noble.
I’m a really big fan of my local B&N. My friend and fellow critique partner Linda Hanlon (a member of C’RAP–Children’s ‘Riters Always Procrastinate) works there and she is awesome–plus some. Additionally they also host my local SCBWI Shop Talk meetings and this group has been very instrumental in helping me grow as a writer and connect with other writers. (Love you guys.) So,when given a better than good reason to come here…
(*Five points if you can find my Hubby and boys in the picture *grin*)
I jumped at the chance. Buying books is even better when I know that every purchase I make supports great authors in my industry AND puts money directly into my local elementary school. This, my friends, is called a NO BRAINER!
First up was the Kindergarten Christmas Concert. Talk about an instantaneous crowd. You could’ve eaten these little elves up with a spoon.
This one is my little elf. Of course he’s hanging with his fantastic teacher Mary Turi. Can you tell that he’s a ham bone? Over the course of the afternoon here were a lot of other performances by the different grades and groups. Everyone was spectacular, but i wasn’t taking pictures so where was I??? Raiding the shelves–of course.
In addition to stories being read, a game of Who’s Smarter Than a 5th Grader with Principal Dr. McNally, we also got to admire the beautiful student art work. It really was a wonderful community event.
The whole family spent time browsing and picking out books, but it was my oldest son who tugged at my heart strings. He’s 9 years old and dyslexic and a huge lover of books. He leaned over and tapped me on the shoulder. He wanted to get books that he could read but he wanted them to be good books. Translation: He wanted his reading level to be commiserate with his interests and comprehension level. I could feel myself getting tense. He wanted books that make him feel good, that empower him. He loves listening to audio books and he loves it when I read to him, but he wants a piece of this passion for himself and as someone who needs books, I understood him completely.
This was not going to be any easy task. We’ve done this dig and search before and the pickings are slim to none. Then we found something new called Top Readers…
He is starting at level one, but the books progress up to level four and they are full of well illustrated, interesting nonfiction topics that immediately captured his interest.
His face lit up and he grabbed a stack off the shelf. He sat down in an empty aisle and read the Big Cats book before we made it to the check out counter. Thank you Barnes & Noble for stocking those books–if you have any doubts about how important they were to my son, look at where he chose to have his picture taken–in the YA a section. You made him feel that big.
Subscribe via Email
Barnse and Noble, I so want to go there. But if I do, I might never get out. 😛
I know the feeling!