![\"\"](\"http:\/\/wordpress.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/champlain-valley-head-start-1.jpg\")
From a similar Champlain Valley Head Start event.<\/p><\/div> From a similar event at the Sutton Free Library. Note Vermonter Jason Chin’s book in the back row! Woot! Lots of favorites on that table.<\/p><\/div> From a similar program (image from the UVM CATS website), though I will say there was no sitting at this one!<\/p><\/div> Bringing together families, college students, state organizations, books, and Head Start creates a grand party.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29777\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nMy favorite events these days are the ones involving collaboration with\u00a0partners. Those events offer a variety of venues, audience\u00a0members, and excellent causes. Recently, I was lucky enough to be part of a\u00a0lovely, lively event created by several community partners.\u00a0Kids, families, and teachers who participate in our local\u00a0Champlain Valley\u00a0Head Start<\/a>\u00a0program were invited to a celebration\u00a0to kick off\u00a0a “1000 Books Before Kindergarten<\/a>” initiative, and it involved six organizations creating the party, including Head Start, the University of Vermont’s ‘Kiddie Cats on the Move’ Program<\/a>, the Vermont Department of Health<\/a>, the Children’s Literacy Foundation<\/a>, Burlington’s\u00a0Fletcher Free Library<\/a>, and\u00a0Sherpa Kitchen<\/a>, a local Nepalese and Himalayan restaurant.
\n
\nAt 3:15, children, teachers, and family members began pouring in the door out of the rain, filling the warm community room with happy chatter. Folks from the Sherpa Kitchen brought big aluminum trays filled with hot, fragrant food to set up on the big table at the\u00a0side of the room for later.
\nMy\u00a0role in this event was as\u00a0a visiting author invited to read my books\u00a0with the children, share some tips with parents, and help the kids pick out books to take home. As they do for\u00a0these kinds of events, the\u00a0Children’s Literacy Foundation<\/a>\u00a0(CLiF) brought boxes of brand-new, beautiful books as giveaways. So before the event, one of the Head Start teachers and I\u00a0laid out rows and rows of board books, picture books, and early readers\u00a0in the back room for the kids to pick out after story time. (Every child gets to choose two books\u00a0to take home and keep at CLiF events.)
\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/wordpress.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sutton-Library-1.jpeg\")
\nThere was a\u00a0“happy mouth” table set up by the VT Department of Health with a giant incisor to brush with a giant toothbrush\u00a0and scores\u00a0of plastic-wrapped colorful toothbrushes and\u00a0little tubes of toothpaste for the kids to take home.
\nThe celebration began with a group of four very enthusiastic college students from UVM, who do fun movement activities with Head Start kids on a regular basis. It was adorable to see the kids race to their places on the carpet and jump into the familiar games with the tireless college kids.
\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/wordpress.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/20180221_Fit_Kids-21-1.jpg\")
\nAfter about 15 minutes of music-fueled games,\u00a0it was time for the giant tooth and a little helpful information about teeth brushing for children. “Your mouth is very close to your brain,” said the Health Department’s friendly educator, “so it’s important to keep your mouth healthy for a healthy brain!” (Duly noted!) After the teeth came Rebecca from the Fletcher Free Library, who told the children about the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program and invited them to get library cards.
\nThen it was my turn. When I do author events, I bring my drummer friend, Sue, who lends a beat to the rhythm of my words and creates a special\u00a0cadence for each child\u00a0when we do a very silly group dance activity after one of my books. It’s such a joy to see children light up to the words and rhythms, to go from shy tiny strangers to energetic participants\u00a0eager to pipe up and contribute their thoughts and ideas.
\nAs a bookseller and a CLiF author, part of my role is to share the joys of reading with kids\u00a0and\u00a0offer\u00a0a few\u00a0tips to parents. The thing that surprised the\u00a0children most was to learn that the seemingly unattainable 1,000-books-before-kindergarten goal could be reached by reading just three picture books a day! After story time, the children\u00a0pored over the book tables, finding just the perfect two choices to take home.
\nDinner time capped off the celebration, with whole families gathered at the child-sized tables to eat Sherpa Kitchen’s delicious food. I wish I could show you pictures (which I don’t for\u00a0family privacy reasons), because the warmth and community spirit were so happy and lovely to behold.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"