Reading: It can take you places

Within a circle of children seated on the carpet of New Bern Mall listening to a story read aloud by an Arapahoe Charter School teacher on Saturday, 4-year-old Julia Phelan was standing transfixed, her eyes wide.

She had spotted the life-size, flesh-and-blood version of the fairy tale character Snow White walking down the mall concourse, with her prince walking at her side.

“Mama, Snow White!” Julia said, before leaving the circle to hug White, who was dressed in a gown with a yellow skirt and velvet bodice.

Julia came to the mall with her mother, Kerry Phelan, and her sister, Audrey, 10, for Reading Fun Day, a free literacy outreach event for children from birth to 12 years old. The event featured reading activities for children set up at booths from one end of the mall to the other.

The event drew crowds of children and their parents, and was organized by the Twin Rivers Council of the International Reading Association, the Craven County Association of Educators, Craven Smart Start and the Sun Journal’s Newspapers in Education program.

Margo Morris, president of the Twin Rivers Council, said the event has drawn about 400 children in the past, although it was not held last year because of mall construction.

“Hopefully (children) discover where they can go in a book,” Morris said.

The theme for Saturday’s event was “Reading: A Time Machine,” so there were booths such as “Blast Off to the Future” organized by Graham A. Barden Elementary School volunteers and “Dawn of the Dinosaurs” organized by Arthur W. Edwards Elementary volunteers.

Each child was given a passport that station leaders hole-punched after children completed the booth’s activities. After receiving at least four hole-punches, the children could select a free book.

Julia’s first stop was at the storybook circle led by Arapahoe Charter School teachers whose theme was “Wild, Wild West.”

The teachers, who wore red bandanas, read books about cowboys to the mobs of children who came up to listen while coloring pictures of saddled horses and cactuses.

“We’re enjoying it,” said Arapahoe Charter School teacher Sandra Holton. “It’s just interesting to watch the children enjoying the books.”

Nearby, Trent Park Elementary School Principal Cheryl Wilson helped 18-month-old Amiya Stocks place a sticker on a purple heart-shaped bookmark. Wilson and teachers from the school helped staff the booth that was bubbling with the chatter of children making the paper creations.

Amiya’s grandfather, Craven County resident Michael Scott, said he took Amiya and her sister, a student at Bridgeton Elementary School, to the event. He said it was a good outlet for the girls to “spend their energy,” instead of being cooped up inside because of the weather.

Wilson said that Trent Park’s booth was busy even before the event started at 10 a.m. She said she saw young children come by in strollers as well as older children in the fifth or sixth grades.

“I think that the nice thing about reading is it can help you learn, but it can also take you places,” Wilson said. “(It’s) just for the love of reading, to help kids in their love of reading.”

New Bern resident Scott Koltick and his wife brought their daughter Hannah, 6, and their 4-year-old son to Reading Fun Day. Koltick said his daughter heard about the event through her school, Brinson Memorial Elementary.

They listened to stories, and made a bookmark at Trent Park’s station.

“She loves it — she’s a social butterfly,” Koltick said of his daughter. “I think if you get them excited about reading, it will help them later in life. Plus it’s a perfect activity for a cold, rainy Saturday morning.”

Laura Oleniacz can be reached at 252-635-5675 or at loleniacz@freedomenc.com.