From the day I first laid my eyes upon the cover of The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z by Kate Messner, I knew it was a book I would read; and the more I heard about the story of Gianna as I tried desperately to get through some “have to read” work-related material, the more I wanted to read about this special young lady. She was worth the wait, oh, was she worth the wait!
I am a fall or autumn freak, I am a tree freak; put the two together and it spells my favorite season. My daughter at age 29 continues to roll her eyes when she hears the words “Oh, look at the leaves!” come from my mouth as she knows there is a car-ride-long monologue forthcoming on the wonders of fall. Our rides each morning years ago to her elementary school took us each fall past a hillside blanketed with mixed yellows, reds and oranges that was the best lift a soul could experience in the early morning. But certain eyes have been rolling since.
There are many things with which I personally identified throughout the book, situations which brought wonderful and not-so-wonderful childhood/adolescent memories to me as I romped through Gianna’s story:
The hearse rides to school: no, my parents didn’t own the local funeral home like Gianna’s but close friends of our family did own a funeral home; and while I was never embarrassed like Gianna, I did take some rides in the hearse and spent hours playing at the funeral home which many friends found weird, not me.
The parent in me desperately wanting to help my children complete assignments: will Gianna ever finish the leaf collection on
time which in turn is vital to keeping her coveted spot on the cross-country team? Such a familiar dilemma parents regularly face in one form or another.
Above all, the leaf book…..in my small hometown everyone did a leaf book in Mrs. Satchfield’s fall semester seventh grade science class. Without fail, leaf books were done, they were legend and if your family was from the area, Mrs. Satchfield could tell you about your relatives’ leaf books from the beginning of time or so it seemed. I remember the leaf book experience with fondness. Various special trips with my parents to find leaves not yet located with a standout memory being the fishing trip on a small reservoir that had a special cypress growing in its middle, standing in the boat trying to grab leaves, sisters shrieking, cookies to eat, what a trip! I’m not sure if we caught fish that trip, but I got the missing tree leaves! World Book Encyclopedias all over the house “pressing” the leaves, the market advent of double-sided tape which simplified the process from previous class’ experiences (the talk of the town) and the desperate notes to my grandparents on an extended trip to Canada (pre-email and texting of course) to please send birch bark and fir tree samples not found in Arkansas…which they successfully sent for my precious extra credit! I realize now the whole leaf collection experience is when the wonder of nature and science truly opened to me; this book of Gianna’s and Zig’s experiences brought it all back to me.
Female adolescent rivalries. I did not have to read the bio on Messner to know clearly she is around middle grade students a great deal and/or has incredible memories from her own adolescence as her portrayal of the female interactions on the track team are so true, so painfully true.
ZIG: Gianna’s best friend. A guy friend. A calming, equalizing force. Organized where Gianna is not. Great guy. Always there at the right time.
Family, real family. Gianna’s grandmother, her other “best friend” who lives with the family is experiencing the onset of Alzheimer’s and the portrayal of the family absorbing the reality is sensitive and convincing. As Gianna’s mother says to her:
”…She’s going to keep slipping away from us, Gee. The writer Elie Wiesel says Alzheimer’s disease is like taking a book and ripping out the pages one at a time until all that’s left is a cover…It hurts to think about it.” Gianna replies “She’s going to need lot of help, isn’t she?” Mom’s response? “She has the best helper anyone’s ever known. You two are kindred spirits. I know you’ll be there for her. And we’ll be here for you….”
Thank you, indeed, Kate Messner, for a great story that is carried out in a book wrapped in a cover doing justice to the story as well as having pages that even show the falling leaves to further set the mood; thank you for invoking special memories of my childhood and my family; thank you for a new book to share with young adolescent friends and a new name to couple with my favorite season…it’s Gianna Z Fall going forward!
Happy reading!
Carol
WEEK’S END closes the work week with some thoughts, comments, feelings about some book and/or event recently experienced. If a book, it may be a children’s book or an adult book or both. If an event, it may be literacy-related or not. But it comes at week’s end.
From its 1966 founding in the public schools in DC, RIF has expanded to other types of programs in the District of Columbia. One very special expansion was the Spanish Education Development Center (SED). 1980 marked the beginning of our long-standing partnership with the SED which has been under the leadership of Martha Egas as the Executive Director over the 29 years of our partnership.
Recently I had the privilege to visit with Martha at the SED Center’s new location on 3100 Kansas Avenue NW which was once a Hahn Shoe Warehouse. In March 2009 the nonprofit relocated from its two smaller Adam Morgan sites to this 24,00 square foot Petworth address. This colorful, state of the art facility may be brand new, but the core values of the center have remained the same.
The SED Center, which purports to be the first bilingual, multicultural preschool in DC, opened in 1971 with the primary goal of offering quality childcare and empowering Spanish speaking and other immigrant communities by responding to their educational needs through various services and initiatives. In 1978 Martha Egas came to the SED family, and two years later she was asked to coordinate and launch their RIF program.
After our tour of the facility, Martha pored over several gigantic binders showing me the history of the SED Center in pictures. Each photograph serves as a testament to the creativity and commitment of the staff, volunteers, and families that have helped SED grow and thrive. At the Center, RIF distributions were and are never mere opportunities for children to receive books. Held around Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Easter, the distributions double as holiday celebrations where the children’s favorite stories come to life through plays, puppetry and other exciting activities. Lulu Delacre who penned “Arroz con Leche” is among the many children’s book authors and illustrators who have participated in the distributions.
From 1987 to 1990 and in partnership with RIF and a grant from the MacArthur Foundation, the SED Center sent the love of reading into homes with the Storytelling Family Club which allowed families to host reading sessions in their own apartments and other neighborhood settings. A multi-generational, bilingual program, the Club let parents and other adult family members become storytellers for the evening. This worked well as even those adults who were not proficient readers were able to be valuable contributors to the events. To support this endeavor, professional storytellers were occasionally employed to coach and model storytelling methods.
Martha says it is very rewarding to regularly have her former preschool students, who are now parents themselves, return to read and volunteer at distributions because they remember their own experiences with RIF and want to give back. Martha reflected in closing “the main thing is to provide children with opportunities. The love for books begins here. We get that from educating parents about the importance of reading and education.”
Thank you, Martha, for all your great work with these young children and their families!
Nia McLean Programs Unit 1
A highlight of SED Center's RIF program one year was a special visit with other RIF programs at The White House hosted by First Lady Barbara Bush.
Be sure to visit RIF’s BIRTHDAY MEMORY BOOK and tell us before November 3 about your favorite RIF memory!
TA-DA! Beat the drum, sound the trumpet, twirl the flags!
RIF’s Ambassadors representing all states and territories were asked to take a photo wishing RIF a Happy 43rd birthday! The winners are shared here with you as we approach Tuesday, November 3 which is birthday time! Each winning RIF program received a cash prize to have a birthday party or purchase other RIF-related items as well as each winning site will receive a Multicultural Book Collection.
Congratulations to the winners, thank you for participating in this special celebration!
GRAND PRIZE WINNER
Arctic Light Elementary School
Fort Wainwright, Alaska
Ambassador Donna Morrow
MOST FUN
Two winners in this category!
Richland County School District 1
Columbia, South Carolina
Ambassador Ida Thompson
Boston Public Schools
Harvard Kent School
Boston, Massachusetts
Ambassador Kathleen Sullivan
MOST CREATIVE
Chief Shikellamy Elementary
Sunbury, Pennsylvania
Ambassador Lisa Mertz
HAPPIEST READERS
AKA Sorority Delta Lambda Omega
Shreveport, Louisiana
Ambassador Lueburda Jamison Myers
BEST USE OF BOOKS
RIF of Pensacola
Pensacola, Florida
Ambassador Elaine Site
Congratulations again to the winners and Happy Birthday to RIF!
In mid April, when many of the children from more northerly climes are still wearing coats at recess, the children of John E. Ford K-8, in Jacksonville, Florida are enjoying their annual RIF “Booknic” distribution.With high temperatures of 79 degrees, and the grass well green, the children of John E. Ford RIF enjoy their final book distribution in a festive outdoor setting.Yes, the final book distribution is held outside awash in the Florida sunshine, enjoyed in a picnic setting in the company of the children’s family members and other local community leaders.It’s a great way to end a RIF year.And it is definitely a reflection of their Account Coordinator’s approach;Kelli Heath is an extremely dedicated Account Coordinator and possesses a one of a kind, fun loving personality. She constantly strives to make the book distributions as memorable and as engaging as possible like one mid-year distribution, which was Chinese New Year themed and covered by closed circuit news. A favorite event is also a Pumpkin Parade with costumes depicting favorite book characters!
Kelli also does a great job of getting parents, staff, and other community members involved; over the period of the three distributions per year, they have more than 400 volunteers total on hand to help with the distributions. The volunteers range from high school students to committed parents and caregivers to community leaders. And for parents who are unable to attend a distribution there is often a book trivia contest sent home for parents and children to enjoy together, again bringing parental participation into the book distribution experience.
For the last 18 years this program has brought the joy of reading and book ownership into the lives of their students and a sense of real “community” to all. Congratulations to Kelli and all involved at John E. Ford K-8; RIF is proud to name you an October Program of the Month!
As I shared last month, RIF monthly honors employees nominated by the staff and selected by the Senior Management Team for the President’s Gold Star Customer Service Awards. Meet October’s honorees:
The Training Team: Caroline Gonzalez, Nekisha Malcolm, Tammi Fergusson Over the last five months we have not seen the trainers in the office a great deal; these three exceptional RIF staffers have been on the road, in the air, and crossing over oceans (yes, oceans) with the goal of providing quality training and resources to organizations in need. Tammie, Nikki and Caroline certainly met this goal by providing 20 training sessions over the 5 month period. With each course comes a new story of how RIF has enriched the lives of children, families, child care professionals or volunteers through book distributions, special events or training. It is because of the selfless efforts of the training staff that a part of RIF’s mission and vision is carried out each and every day.
April Wainwright: Assistant to the VP of Development April’s nominator wrote “April is dependable, thorough and serves as a shining example of what customer service is. Her willingness to assist outside her department is something to be commended. When she is asked to “fill in” or “help out” even at the last minute, she makes herself available and always with a positive attitude and a smile on her face!”
Congratulations to all, we are so proud you are part of the RIF family!
Carol
Hello, I am Patricia Oholeguy, Director of Early Childhood Services at RIF, and I want to share with you how much fun as well as how educational it was to attend the National Indian Education Association (NIEA) conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on October 22-25. As Carol Rasco posted in September, RIF is proud to have a partnership agreement with NIEA signed on September 11, 2009, this country’s first National Day of Service and Remembrance. Through this partnership our organizations will work together to improve literacy resources for American Indian children and families nationally.
RIF had a great presence at the NIEA conference last week with the opportunity to exhibit and to share both in formal sessions as well as informally through our booth useful information about children and families and RIF. Four wonderful RIF staff attended the conference with me to help facilitate our work: Matthew Cibellis, Wendell Bassett, Darryl Robinson, and Serena La Rocque. During our time at the RIF booth we had many interesting visits with individuals sharing their RIF stories and/or seeking to learn more about what RIF does. We distributed 1000 books to parents and teachers, and we made many new friends.
I began my stay at the conference by sharing with the leaders of the Tribal Education Departments National Assembly (TEDNA) our ongoing efforts to reach out to American Indian communities; and three days later I culminated my stay by presenting to teachers attending the conference ways in which they can more successfully promote literacy habits in the homes of their students.
RIF extends a special thank you to all our friends at NIEA who made us feel like we were at home. And even though the weather outside was gloomy, Matthew, Darryl, Serena and Wendell were always wearing a smile welcoming all participants to our booth which made a world of difference!
We continue preparing to celebrate RIF’s 43rd birthday with RIF memories being placed in the virtual memory book. To win a children’s book autographed by the author or illustrator during days leading to the birthday on November 3, place a memory in the comments section of the original posting, this posting today or on one of the special Memory Monday postings, a Flashback Fridays post or even a comment when you see a blog posting on RIF’s Facebook fan page.
Congratulations to these latest winners!
Oct. 15: Jen Robinson: Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
Oct. 16: Terry Doherty: Kitten’s First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes
Oct. 17: Michelle Powers: Maisy Big, Maisy Small by Lucy Cousins
Oct. 18: Esme Codell: Wolves, by Emily Gravett
Oct. 19: Rachael Walker: Free Fall by David Wiesner
Oct. 20: Carolyn Gardner: The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney
Cassie, Lisa and Annie prepare to share DCI distribution details with RIF staff.
As many of you know from previous postings about the DCI (District of Columbia Initiative), RIF’s national office gave to the children of the DC public schools the gift of RIF staff time for direct oversight in planning and implementation of the Books for Ownership program as part of our 40th birthday celebration a few years ago. As we transitioned from the wonderful group of individuals who were retiring from the oversight of RIF in the DC public schools since day one, it was determined we would use this opportunity as a laboratory for training and innovation incubation! A mouthful meaning we look for new ideas to try as we serve the children of the nation’s capital city and then share those tested ideas with RIF programs throughout the nation .
RIF is preparing for this year’s distributions in DC with each one to be held in a month that is a traditional special heritage month. The first distribution will be held in November and celebrate National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month. Last week the activities committee shared with the staff some background information, a book TotemTales which will be featured and some of the craft activities to be carried out with students.
Stay tuned and watch for an exciting report from one school where we will be facilitating a cultural exchange among RIF students from very different parts of the country!
Arthur White is vice-chairman of Yankelovich Partners and a founding member of RIF’s Board of Directors.
Arthur recalls:
I have had the opportunity through a 60-year career in consulting to work with over 200 private sector, government, and not-for-profit organizations. I consider RIF a candidate for “the best” because of its extraordinary record of increasing contributions to improvement in children’s literacy. I became involved after a friend in the White House called to ask if I could come meet with Mrs. McNamara, who needed help with an education program. She was tutoring elementary school children and had to bring books in from home because the school had very few. She was exhausting the McNamara children’s supply and had turned to her husband for help. He suggested she obtain a measure of the problem not only in her school but in others and he would try to provide a remedy. I provided speedy research and he obtained seed money. Forty-three years of intense progress and outreach have developed from Mrs. McNamara’s project.
Have you ever seen a brighter blue? Since MotherReader posted about this book back in June 2009, I have returned over and over to gaze at the beauty of this cover. Learn more about how the cover went from a magazine cover to a website motif to the cover of this book in an interview conducted by MotherReader. And enjoy gazing at the beautiful blue as did I!
Happy reading!
Carol
Cover Story is a feature every Monday on Rasco From RIF where I share with you the “face” of a book that has caught my eye or that readers have submitted. Cover Story does not discuss the content of the book. I hope you will share your favorite “cover story” with me now and then!
Arthur White is vice-chairman of Yankelovich Partners and a founding member of RIF’s Board of Directors.