To get things rolling we introduced ourselves and read a book to the kids out loud. Connor and I chose Brother Eagle, Sister Sky. A classic, I know. For first graders, some of children were surprisingly perceptive of the underlying message of wildlife and environmental conservation. Shit, when I was kid, I thought it was about the badass eagles and wolves. After the book we broke out the arts and crafts to make bookmarks. Each kid got a scratch-away rainbow bookmark and a sharpened wooden skewer to draw on it with. Not sure who approved that. Here are some kids and their art.
Of course, you need a book to go with your bookmark, so after arts and crafts we lined up the kids and led them out into the hall to a buffet of books. For a few weeks before the trip, the club had been collecting students' old childrens book just for this. We scrambled them all over a table and let the kids go at them. Each one was allowed to take one for themselves.
After each kid got a book, we took what was left to give to the obviously ungrateful librarian. She wouldn't even open the door for us when it was pretty apparent our hands were too busy holding 20 pounds of hardbacked love to turn the door handle. When we told her the crates were donations she just rolled her eyes. Whatever. With the rate at which the internet's cataloging books now she'll probably be jobless in two years. Either way, the experience was one of those heart-warming, fuzzy-feeling breaks from reality that let you forget about how much the world sucks for a minute. I'm gonna say it. I'm glad I missed class for this.
