By Anna Krejci
News-Chronicle
Wisconsin's first lady went to school in Green Bay on Wednesday, as did all of the city's children for the first day of school. Jessica Doyle, wife of Gov. Jim Doyle, introduced a new, online reading program to students at Franklin Middle and Tank Elementary schools in Green Bay.
The program, "Read on Wisconsin," is a book club for students where they can submit comments to the club's Web site and read comments posted by other children. On occasion, Doyle will travel the state to talk to kids about the books.
On Wednesday, Doyle promoted a book titled, "My name is Maria Isabel" by Alma Flor Ada. Doyle asked students to relate to one of the book's characters preparing for the first day of school.
A majority of fourth-grade students in one class raised their hands when Doyle asked who had trouble sleeping on first-day-of-school eve, but even more raised their hands when she asked who would sleep better the night after.
Third-graders, their faces propped on their hands and legs dangling back and forth, heard Doyle read part of the book.
The students listed some of their favorite books for Doyle; they included the "Arthur" books by Marc Brown and Dr. Seuss books.
Having a forum for student discussion will better inspire children to read, Doyle said after the classroom presentations.
Doyle reasoned that kids want to relate to each other.
"If they can do it from reading, I think it's an excellent learning opportunity," she said. Doyle said as a parent, her favorite time to sit down with a book was before bedtime with her two sons.
The state's first lady, former learning coordinator and employee of several Madison schools, is featuring different books each month for infants to high school students.
The featured books for September are: for infants, "Baby Goes Beep" by Rebecca O'Connell; for preschoolers, "Jessica" by Kevin Henkes; for elementary students, "Two Old Potatoes and Me" by John Coy; for intermediate students, "My Name is Maria Isabel" by Alma Flor Ada; for middle school students, "Seedfolks" by Paul Fleischman; for high school students, "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson.
To join the book club, visit http://readon.wisconsin.gov.
Reading trends at Tank Elementary School
Tank Elementary School library media specialist, Roberta Gale, said while fiction stories like "Harry Potter" and the "Berenstain Bears" are still in demand among young people, their attraction to nonfiction cannot be overlooked.
"The young children are really heavy into nonfiction," she said.
Books on the armed services, airplane ships, Packers and rollerblading are popular, she added. "The kids have always loved nonfiction," she said, adding as long as the book has pictures, they will take them.
For children, the greatest motivation for reading is seeing their parents read, Gale said. "Read, read, read to that child . . . even if they're only chewing covers on the board books," she said.
In Gale's opinion, a good book can take an old idea and present it in a new way, as was done in "Book! Book! Book!" by Deborah Bruss. The reviewers did not like it, Gale said, but she thinks it is creative.
"It's the concept of the kids go back to school on the farm and the animals are bored because the kids are gone," Gale said.
The animals go to the town library and, with the help of puns, their animal "snorts", "moos" and "clucks" help them communicate with the librarian.
"The average kindergartner has never heard that before," she said, "and they (the kids) think the play on words is funny," she said.
In a nutshell, Gale said a good book is "a story that brings you in, and is not just the same old ideas."
And, a bad book is when "the characters aren't developed well, and it doesn't have any socially redeeming storyline," she said.
But, kids are the ultimate judges, sometimes picking the same books they like best again and again, she said.
"It (a favorite book) gives you comfort because you know the story, you know the book ... and kids of all ages need comfort levels," she said.
Gale highlighted the following list of children's authors, books or series: Patricia Polacco, "Thank you Mr. Falker" and "My Rotten Red-headed Older Brother"; Susan Meddaugh, "Martha Speaks"; Lois Ehlert, "Pie in the Sky"; Dr. Seuss books; "Magic Treehouse" series by Mary Pope Osbourne.
Door
County news 
