Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 25, 1993 TAG: 9304230184
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BECKY HEPLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Long
It's the weekly meeting of a new children's reading program started in February during National Reading Month by the folks at Gilbert Linkous Elementary School.
Every Thursday, from 4 to 5 p.m., volunteers bring books, games and refreshments to the coin-operated laundry at University Village Park.
"It's a way to reach a large number of students at one place," said Rob Duckworth, assistant principal at Linkous.
The story hour starts with volunteers reading stories to the children.
The scent of eau de Laundromat - a combination of warm dryer lint, tart bleach and sweet fabric softener - mixes with the aroma of bubble gum and other kid smells.
In the background the thump and rumble of clothes drying forms a counterpoint to the sounds of the story.
"We thought the Laundromat would be ideal, if Mr. [Rick] Alcorn, [the manager] would agree to it," Duckworth said. "He was quite gracious. He would have even shut down the place, so we could have it exclusively. But we didn't think that was necessary, and the people who come and do their laundry end up listening to the stories."
First-grade teacher Anne Kuykendall holds the children's attention with her funny rendition of the April Fool's story about a mouse by Marc Brown.
The volunteers also ask about books the children have read and want to discuss. There are book talks about good stories they can find to read in their library at school - all part of the popular Children Are Reading Everywhere program.
The day's book talk on "Koala Lou," a book by Mim Fox, is so compelling that first-grade teacher Joy White is pressed into service to read it.
Mitchell Crawford, a first-grader with a serious mien that doesn't match his hip baggies and slip-ons, leads the chorus: "Koala Lou, I do love you."
During the reading, first-grader Sherry Xie edges closer and closer to White.
A native of China living in Blacksburg with her graduate-student parents, she began the session standing close by her mother, then standing at the outside of the circle, then seated in the middle of the circle.
By the time the story is finished, Xie is right beside White, listening intently to the tale of Australian animal Olympics. It's the first time she has attended the after-school event, but her mother, Yang Sheng Lu, thinks it's such a good idea they probably will be back.
Next, student teacher Lynn Hopkins reads "That's Good, That's Bad," another book that draws the children to join the reading. They hiss along with the snake, and after every hair-raising event in the story, get to call out "That's good," or "That's bad," depending upon the situation.
On this day, it was just the children and two parents. Third-grader Brandee Quesenberry brought both her younger sister, year-old Chelsea, and her older brother, William, who is now at the high school, to the story hour. Chelsea is a favorite at the Laundromat and the children take turns holding her. She listens quietly to the story.
After all the stories and the book talks, the children circle around a book table to return books they checked out previously and find new ones.
Fourth-grader Crystal Henderson takes the first shift as librarian, laboriously filling out the cards, then filing them. Reading is her favorite pastime and she has just finished "Anne of Green Gables."
She is kept so busy that she almost missed the refreshments - those Oreos go fast - as the children rummage among the mix of classics and new releases, fiction and nonfiction, picture books and novels.
"The PTA gave us the money to buy 200 books and at first we thought about just giving them to the children," Duckworth said. "But we figured there would be better circulation if they checked them out."
One mother, who came along to the reading hour with her sons, talked about how she liked the program. Phyllis Hutchison brought her two sons, Brandon Price and Daniel Hutchison, to the Laundromat and was disappointed that her 4-year-old daughter, who was visiting her father, had to miss the activities that day.
"I'm a single parent, and it's a big help for them to be able to check out the books this close to home," she said. "Otherwise, it's a matter of getting to the library downtown."
Duckworth said the idea originated with the school's principal, Ray Van Dyke. Others who have contributed to the success of the program include guidance counselors Brenda Smith, who put together the CARE box and buys the cookies each week, and Katy Gresh. Chapter 1 reading teacher Brenda Mentzer also helped in the planning stage.
There has been an enthusiastic turnout of volunteers to help with the program. Duckworth said there are enough people signed on to carry the program through May, when the program will be suspended temporarily until fall.
This support also includes the donation of many new and nearly new books from groups such as the Blacksburg Junior Women's Club. Duckworth said anyone wanting to donate books could call him at the school.
The response among the children has been equally enthusiastic with an average of about 25 to 35 participating each week. Duckworth said at first they distributed flyers on the bus to remind the children about the event.
"The week we were snowed out, they were so disappointed," he said.
by CNB