The Joy of Reading, One Child at a Time

When Eastern Connecticut State University’s Community Partners for Early Literacy (CPEL) literacy coach Audrey Cadarette first asked Danny if he liked books, the four-year old exclaimed, ”No!” and ran away. But what Audrey did next changed Danny’s future forever.

Last Thursday I accompanied a preschool teacher on a home visit. The little boy, Danny, who would be in this year’s preschool class, was anxiously waiting on the landing in front of the house wearing a pair of shorts, freshly washed and combed hair and a brilliant smile.

He bounced with excitement, yelling for his mother to come see his teacher. The small upstairs apartment that housed the family of five was sparse but comfortable. Danny had a hard time calming down, jumping around on the floor barefoot and trying to do some tricks that defied gravity.

I took out one of the books I brought that had a bright green frog with pink feet and eyes on the cover. I asked Danny if he liked books. He answered a flat, “No.” I left the book on the couch beside me and waited for my next chance to engage him in conversation. The preschool teacher and Danny’s mom were busy filling out papers.

On Danny’s next orbit around the room, I held up the book and asked, “Do you know what this animal is, Danny?” He literally stopped in mid-air and shot a look at the cover. In slow motion, he came over to the couch and asked, “Is that a frog?” Danny and I looked at every page, noticing what the animals were and where they lived. One page had two otters on it. Danny and I talked about the fact that neither one of us had ever seen a real otter, but we could see that otters like the water.

I threw caution to the wind and took another animal book out of my bag. It was an entire book dedicated to dogs of every size and shape. Danny was hooked. He was now sitting next to me on the couch poring over the pages and asking very interesting questions. We even had time to look at a third book about animal babies. Danny returned many times to our first book and repeated, “We know that otters like water!”

I could see the teacher was ending the visit. I took the first book Danny and I looked at and asked if he would like to keep it. He was completely still, and I thought he might not have heard me. He had an almost startled look on his face.

Then he looked at me and said, “I can keep the book? Forever? It can be mine? I can read it in my bed?” I assured him I was really giving it to him, and I added, “Would you like the other two books we looked at as well?” His answer was, “I will be right back.”

He ran to the other room and brought out a small backpack. He worked to unzip the backpack and carefully put all three books inside, zipping it closed. He clutched the backpack to his chest like he was holding a bag filled with priceless treasure. I waved goodbye to Danny and, although his arms were too full to wave, he said goodbye with an unforgettable smile.

And to think, this is a boy that says he doesn’t like books.

Written by Audrey Cadarette, a CPEL literacy coach and graduate of Eastern Connecticut State University’s Reading and Language Arts program.

Community Engagement at Eastern: An important part of Eastern’s Community Partners for Early Literacy (CPEL) project has been the work the project’s literacy coaches do to help families support their children’s literacy development at home. This includes going on home visits, which is how the meeting with Danny came about. During the three-year federally funded CPEL project, nearly 6,000 English, Spanish and bilingual-language books were given to more than 500 preschool children. For more information, visit www.easternct.edu/cece/CPELMain.html.