It's no secret that our Volunteer Library has always played a crucial role in Bridge Boston's commitment to full service; but did you know about the masterminds behind our Author Program?

For the past four years, Bridge has been bringing acclaimed authors and illustrators of various children's books into classrooms - virtually and in person - to deliver curriculum-aligned presentations to and lead interactive discussions with our students. Just before the pandemic, Literacy Specialist Jodi Russell and Head Library Volunteer Jeri Cooper got connected with Wondermore: a Boston-based organization that works with teachers and librarians to reinforce school curriculum and inspire young readers and writers. Wondermore emphasizes inclusion and diversity in the selection of their authors so students can see themselves reflected in the pages of the authors’ books. Their team makes a great effort to coordinate the best match between student population, the author's interests and experiences, and what types of books are most loved in a school community. This matching process requires Wondermore to seek feedback from teaching teams:

It's a pleasure to work at a school like Bridge, where we come back year after year and know that students will be prepared and teachers will be happy to see us! In this way, we can create the best experience possible for students and authors alike: 

Pam Yosca, Wondermore Program Director

Just days before the onset of the pandemic, Bridge kicked off the Author Program with a visit from author and illustrator Raul the Third. Since then, Raul has visited our classrooms several times, sharing illustrations and stories from stories like ¡Vamos! Let’s Cross the Bridge and Lowriders in Space. His work centers around the contemporary Mexican-American experience and his memories of growing up in El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. 

While school was closed during the pandemic, we were delighted to welcome not only Raul, but Ibi Zoboi and Juana Medina to our classrooms virtually.

Ibi shared her inspiration behind some of the characters in her book, My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich - she wanted to be an astronaut when she was a little girl and reflected that dream through her main character. The 4th Graders she spoke with adored her presentation, especially because it was structured as a countdown and allowed them to shout out each number in an interactive way.

During Juana's visit to our 1st and 2nd Grade classrooms, she told students that she began to write because she did not see faces that looked like hers in books: "I think it's important for us to write stories to show children and adults that there is plenty of room for other voices."

Our 1st Grade friends were especially excited that when Juana read a chapter from her book Juana and Lucas, they were able to read along with their own copies! As part of the Author Program, each student goes home with a signed copy of one of the author's newest books. 

During her visit earlier this school year, Janet Costa Bates shared The Rica Baptista chapter book series, which features a Cape Verdean American girl navigating family and friend relationships.

As a graphic novelist, Nathan Hale shared his literary and illustration skills with students during his visit earlier this spring. Our 8th Graders were eager to ask for his autograph after the presentation - on everything from books to basketballs!

On behalf of our students, teachers, and librarians, Bridge Boston would like to extend our deep gratitude to the Parsons Family, whose generous support makes it possible to bring authors to visit our students each year. We asked Dick and Brena Parsons to reflect upon their service to and support of our library program over the years, and they kindly shared a few words with us:

Fictional stories are ones which are made up. They come from the writer’s imagination & will take you anywhere you can think of. You can visit a neighbor around the corner; be a pirate or explorer, a doctor, teacher, inventor, fly in a spaceship to the farthest reaches of outer space. Anything that you’ve EVER thought of can be accomplished by reading - or writing! - a story. The characters also come from imagination. You can make up unusual looking creatures, or have the characters look like the people we see every day. In stories, animals can speak, operate machinery or do anything at all.

Nonfiction reading tells us about our world, what’s happening in our neighborhood or on the other side of the earth. We learn about other countries, the people who live there, the vegetation, and the landscape of a place - whether it has mountains, a seashore, farming country, desert or something entirely different. We learn about other people, what sort of home they live in, how they dress, what kind of work they do, their customs, what they like to eat, the crops they grow and the languages they speak.

Reading is an invisible pathway to whatever, wherever and whoever you could possibly think of. It costs nothing to read, yet is one of the most valuable and precious things we can do.