Monday, March 07 2005 @ 10:02 PM EST
Contributed by:
NuritSiegel
Views: 11
"I've been reading in Room#6, Estherly Coltons' first grade class at Selma Elementary School in Hollywood for two and a half years now. In fact, one of the first commitments I made when I landed in Los Angeles was volunteering for Bookpals. I had heard about it while living in New York City. I started reading in Estherly's summer class, composed of mainly Russian students. Estherly has a bookshelf full of books, mostly books about animals and loving them and also about vegetarianism. The students were endearing.
"I got hooked by the smiling faces and the students shouting out my name when I opened the door on Friday morning. Her regular school year students are comprised mainly of Hispanic children peppered with other ethnicities. I could read to them in English and Spanish. Exciting for all of us. The diversity of the students and their inherent beliefs was something I felt needed to be heard around the country, shared around the world. Because after all, our country is founded on this melting pot that was staring up at me wide-eyed as I read to them."
