Reading in the Bronx

Yesterday I spent the day in the South Bronx at a really cool public elementary school.  Note this is a poor area, even for the Bronx, and the students live in a challenging environment.  But it was cool, because the kids were interested in meeting me, hearing a new story and chatting about book writing/making.

My journey started with a subway ride, actually three different trains as the second train I jumped on was the wrong one.  Then a short walk of just a few blocks (5-6) when the shops were starting to open.  While things were on a lower income scale, I did love that the stores were your more traditional single type vendor; the butcher, veggie guy, hair salon, underwear store, etc.

The guard at the front door, checked my identification, signed me in and sent me to the main office.  At the main office there was a repair man fixing the photocopy machine that had been broken for four days.  They called up to the librarian, who picked me up and gave a tour of the school.  The school was a magnificent old building that had huge rooms and 25 ft ceilings on each floor of the 6 floor building.  There were only stairs, which means with 25 ft ceilings everyone gets a work out. The wrought iron around the stairs was beautiful, but clearly meant to keep kids from sliding down the banisters and safe.  

The library was actually lovely.  Rather full of books as one would expect, a bit bare of decoration, no artwork like the classrooms.  Two rugged areas for readings and five tables for six kids each.  I liked the book collection.  Frankly I hadn't been in an elementary school library in YEARS!  There was a reference section of dictionaries and encyclopedias.  Lots of non-fiction from basic science to Vikings.  Then a great selection of fiction, spanning a very wide reading ability, as the kids in the school range from kindergarten to 5th graders.  

Each class period was 50 minutes.  I was to meet with one class of each grade, 5-K. Some classes were bi-lingual and some included students with learning disabilities.

The Librarian introduced me as an "author" to the kids when they first sat came in and sat at the tables.  We discussed what is an "author" and with the older kids, what is "famous" because I'm not a "famous author" as they had so greatly wanted to presume.  But they were thrilled that I was there at all.  I told them it was a story about a farting elephant, that makes friends at a zoo, and they were more then happy to hear the story.  They were ready for story time.  

We moved to the rugged area.  I read.  They helped with sound effects.  At the end we had Q&A.  For the younger classes, K & first graders, this was enough.  We talked about all the animals that live at the zoo, which is their favorite, what they would name it if they could, and what would be its "secret power" if it had one.  Then they had the opportunity to draw a picture of it and write a sentence below the picture.  Lots of "elefants" in the room!

With 2nd graders and older, I could read them the second story without pictures.  They enjoyed it. But I also had the pencil sketch of the book with me so we could pick out sections, reread that section, talk about how they would illustrate it if they were making the book.  Then I would show them what the artist came up with and sometimes even the final full color graphic.  

IT WAS AWESOME!  

Amazingly, they stayed with it for the most part.  Of course they were wiggly, as all kids are.  They loved the concept and in the older classes asked some great question.  But it was also a new concept, meeting an author.  These generally were kids from homes where there aren't a lot of books, they don't frequent book stores and the local library is not as welcoming as the one at the school.  At lunch and after school, fifth grade girls showed up just to hang out.  They were totally into the "American Girl" historical series.

It was fun to interact with the kids.  I've noticed across readings I've done that the kids love when an adult is willing to say "fart" let alone encourage everyone to make a fart sound.  The librarian did admit to me it was a problem as the kids on occasion fart, and then the giggling and accusations start.  She say she typically says it was her fart just to get the kids to quiet down, but now she can blame it on Norman.

It was a good experience.  I hope they also get the greater bit of Norman's story, that of acceptance, cultural differences are interesting and embraceable, and that silly can go anywhere.