Bowman Elementary had their annual book bash event last week, and invited the zoo to participate. The Alaska Zoo and Bowman Elementary have what they call "a partnership" which basically means Bowman does a lot of things for the zoo, like their web pages; and the zoo does a lot of things for Bowman, like attending their book bash. It is a mutually beneficial relationship, and both partners are well satisfied with it.
The book bash was quite an affair. They had several guest readers attending: Halene Petersen Dahlstrom, author of "Raven Cove Mystery" (a battle of the Books selection) was in one room; Anna Bondarenko, an Iditerod musher, was in another room. They even had The Cat in The Hat reading books, as well as the entire Fire Engine Crew from Fire Station #9 (off Hufman) reading stories! And of course, zookeeper Brian Moore and myself were in our own room reading stories.
The plan of attack for the night was for kids to pick three rooms they wanted to listen to stories at. They were given 15 minutes in each room with a 5-minute break in between for them to shuffle off to their next room of choice. After all the reading was done, they were to gather in the Multipurpose Room for treats, prizes, and a book signing.
Brian and I met up at the front door and headed on into our room at about 6:45, giving us a few minutes to settle in before the kids started to arrive. We each brought our books with us: Brian had "Stellaluna" by Janell Cannon and Jewell Cannon (Stellaluna, a little brown bat, is accidentally dropped by her mother. The helpless baby falls smack into a nest of bird fledglings, and is immediately accepted as one of the family. Stellaluna tries to fit in, but keeps acting unbirdlike; hanging upside down and wanting to fly at night. By chance Stellaluna is reunited with her mother and finally learns to be proper bat.) while I brought "Edward the Emu" by Sheena Knowles and Rod Clement (Tired of being an emu, Edward decides to try being like other animals at the zoo, but he soon discovers that being himself is the best after all.) and "Last Night at the Zoo" by Michael Garland (A quiet zoo evening turns into a wild tale as animals plan a night on the town and get decked out in zany disguises to achieve their goals. A rollicking rhyme accompanies pages of detail on their lavish night out and encounters with humans in this highly recommended, different story with its bright color drawings). I actually had a few others with me as well, but didn’t read them.
The reading sessions went really well. Brian had never read to children before, at least not "officially" like we were that night, so it was a learning experience for him. He discovered that it’s not quite as easy as it looks, although it is very rewarding. The kids enjoyed all of our stories, and we enjoyed the kids as well. The staff at Bowman Elementary is very nice, and I must say their librarian smells really good! I don’t know what perfume she’s wearing, but I liked it.
After we finally read the last sentence in the last book, we closed up shop and followed everybody into the Multipurpose Room. There, they had a huge table laid out with milk and cookies, along with grapes and strawberries, to munch on. Brian and I helped ourselves to the food and then tried to squeeze into one of the tables along with the rest of the crowd. It’s been a long time since elementary school, and I for one have grown more than double since then: and those tables are mighty small!
But, we finally got situated and ate our snacks while listening to Ms. Dahlstrom read from one of her books. They had their drawing once she was done, and gave away copies of her books to the names they drew from their hat. Brian and I didn’t stay to the very end, but it looked to me as though everybody was going to get one of her books, which means that every child went home happy!
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