Northwood, Ho! San Francisco BookPALS Expands to Rural Cotati, California

April 21, 2014

SF BookPAL and SAG-AFTRA member Jeff Redlick wins the award for most read alouds done within a few hundred feet of cows, sheep, and horses.

Though the animals appreciate him, the children he visits on a weekly basis at Thomas Page Elementary School are the real winners.  On April 16, Jeff read aloud with Ms. Zacks’s K/1 classroom.  Jeff selected Bootsy Barker Bites, by Barbara Bottman (illustrated by Peggy Rathmann) and Officer Buckle and Gloria, the Caldecott Award-winning title by Peggy Rathmann. 

Jeff’s warm, resonant voice brought out the rich and varied emotions of characters in these two stories that share the common theme of friendship (both positive and problematic), and the kids hung on his every word.  They were so attentive, it was hard to believe there were Kindergarteners in the group!

Jeff took opportunities to make literacy and comprehension connections as they arose, answering questions, connecting the narrative to personal experience, and touching on the themes as appropriate.  Jeff’s presences touches the hearts and minds of the children he reads to, and stokes the fires of their interest in stories and reading.