The Rise of the Texas Reading Rock Stars
The "Keep Austin Weird" movement in Texas may have been at the forefront of the nationwide "Shop Local" campaign, but now another Austin-based initiative could well be a blueprint from which other states can benefit: the Reading Rock Stars program.
Launched 10 years ago as "Author! Author!," the program began in conjunction with the Texas Book Festival in Austin to bring children's book creators to underserved schools in the area. "We had all these authors coming into town for the festival that we could also invite into the schools," said Blair Newberry, director of outreach for the Texas Book Festival, which was held October 31-November 1. "A few years ago, we changed the name to Reading Rock Stars--that's what authors are to the kids."
The authors read to the children, then sign copies of their books, which are donated by local foundations such as One Sky, ECG, the Meadows and Wright Family Foundations, as well as corporate sponsors like HEB (a grocery chain) and Scholastic, which has donated the books for its featured authors. More than 100 authors have participated so far, and books have been given to more than 25,000 students. For some of them, it's the first book they've ever owned.
Jon Scieszka, the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, participated this year and was so impressed that he has offered to be a spokesman for Reading Rock Stars. "We had spent most of the day at the school and stopped into a couple of classrooms to say, 'Hi,'" said Scieszka, who was visiting Joslin Elementary School with author Mac Barnett. "We saw a line of kindergartners going to lunch, and three or four of them were still holding their books! They still couldn't believe it was theirs, like they thought it might get lost or end up in the library. That's the piece that's been shown in a lot of research--what really makes a difference is for kids to have their own books."
Three years ago, the Texas Book Festival began working with UT Pan-Am in Edinburgh, Tex., in the heart of the Rio Grande Valley. "We just went into five little towns and six different schools in the valley. They call it 'Festiva,' and the college has an open door to their community," according to Newberry. "We bring in authors from all over the state." Many of the pre-K to second-grade students there are ESL (English as a Second Language) children. Newberry said the festival makes a three-year commitment to each school. "Hopefully we are working with the same librarian and volunteers in the school. The goal is to leave them with a template of how to set up an author visit for their school," she explained. Last year, they took the program into two Title One elementary schools in San Antonio, funded by Target. Volunteers from Target came to the school, brought in art supplies and helped the students create posters for the event.
Scieszka believes encouraging sponsors to attend the event is another key component to the program's success. "I was pleased that the financial supporters stopped by the school to see where their money was going," he said. "If they're in oil or banking and they come out to the classroom and see those fourth- and fifth-graders riveted and asking great questions, it makes a big difference. It makes a great community connection, too. They can see how big a difference their contributions make."
The Texas Book Festival was founded in 1995 by Laura Bush, First Lady of Texas at the time. "She's a librarian and a University of Texas graduate, and she wanted to find a way to fund our library system because we were 47th out of the 50 states in per-capita funding that we give to our libraries," Newberry said. Barnes & Noble is the festival's official bookseller, and a percentage of sales go back to the festival. "So far we've awarded $2.3 million in grants to libraries," said Newberry. "Almost every library system in Texas has received a grant from us."
This year, for the first time, a children's book writer was among the authors invited to speak at the gala for the Texas Book Festival: Jon Scieszka. "After claiming to be a Texan and imitating the guys before me--I said I was a T.C.U. [Texas Christian University] grad--I read them "The Really Ugly Duckling" [from Scieszka's The Stinky Cheese Man] to get them started," Scieszka said with a laugh. He also used the opportunity to plug for Reading Rock Stars. "Five hundred people in black tie are a tough crowd. But nobody's tougher than a mess of kindergartners," he said, "or eighth graders."--Jennifer M. Brown
