Reading to an audience

[wordsrmylife]

Today I had the pleasure of reading to a class of third graders. I shared Breaking Into Print, by Stephen Krensky, illustrated by Bonnie Christiansen. It came out about 10 years ago, but it's a great way to introduce kids to the idea that books weren't always around and that books were a prime mover in setting us free (so it seemed appropriate this week). It blew the kids minds to find out that there weren't always spaces between words and that the beginning letter of a sentence wasn't always capitalized. The kids, and the teacher, who was BD's 3rd and 4th grade teacher, made some great connections. The wonderful time was topped off with them reciting the first section of "'Twas the Night Before Christmas," which they memorized before the holiday so that they could recite it at senior housing, the local bank, etc.

Hurrah for teachers who still do such marvelous things!

I came home energized and ready to write.