Me as Pete the Cat
Photo by S.R. (a student library helper)
Me as the main character in Kevin Henkes's In My Garden
Photo by Sienna Merrill
Me as Harry Potter
Photo by S.R. (a student library helper)
Every week in my library was a celebration of children's books, storytelling, artwork, and of course poetry! But in 2017, I shared with students and staff the wonderful celebration, Children’s Book Week, which began in 1919. We admired Christian Robinson's poster that he created for that year's celebration and discussed the theme: "One World, Many Stories". We had guest readers share their favorite books and talk about special memories surrounding their favorite books. I read various favorite books of my own and read aloud some lovely poetry.
I love to booktalk and promote reading in lots of different and fun ways. On the first day of Children's Book Week in 2017, I decided to match my wardrobe to different books. It first began with wearing a favorite Dr. Seuss T-shirt that proclaimed the joys of reading. The following days during that week, I coordinated my clothing to either match a book character's, or the colors of the cover art. Students and staff enjoyed seeing which character or book cover I matched each day.
Unbeknownst to my students and colleagues, my book-matching wardrobe was not only for the students but also for me. I was going through an extremely traumatic time in my life - I was not only caring for my family, but also for my terminally ill husband. Coordinating my wardrobe to match books and their characters and posting my photos to Instagram, became a way for me to distract myself from what was going on in my personal life and gave me reason to get out of bed each day. My book wardrobe continued into the summer months and abruptly came to an end shortly before my husband passed.
Although this Slice of Life story may seem depressing, it really is a story of how children's books help save my life.
What is Slice of Life? Visit Two Writing Teachers to learn more.
