Roaring readers

LYNN – They wore leopard print leggings and zebra T-shirts, and they roared into the Girls Inc. gymnasium to pick out books during Linda Hall’s book giveaway, her third for the year.”Our theme is ?Roaring Readers’,” Hall said, Literacy Coordinator for Girls Inc. “We had a $2,000 grant from Reading is Fundamental, which allowed us to buy over 900 books to give away to kids.”Hall said all students in kindergarten through third grade were invited to pick out two books to take home. The choices ran from picture books to science books to graphic novels, and included classics like “The Mouse and the Motorcycle,” the Goosebumps series and Judy Blume’s “Fudge-a-mania.”The book giveaway is just part of what Hall said is now a “bona fide literacy program” at Girls Inc. Students in grades K-3 who attend the after school program receive two hours of literacy activities per week, Hall said.Many of the girls who attend Girls Inc. are bilingual, which is good but can make learning to read difficult, Hall said.”Hopefully they can catch up but it can be hard for them,” she said.There is also a program for older student where, Hall said, 13 girls signed up to read to seven- and eight-year-olds twice a week.”That works for both sides of the program,” Hall noted.Seven-year-old Najesie Pagan picked out a “Captain Underpants” book because, “well, it’s Captain Underpants; he’s cool,” she said sagely.Ignoring the adage, Juliana Abreu, 6, clearly judged her books by their covers. She said she picked “Prilla Fairy” because she was covered in butterflies, which she likes, and she chose “Avalon,” which is above her reading level but it had a fairy on the cover.She also likes to read.”I think because it’s very fun and it helps you get smarter,” she said.Marilyn Conde, 9, was a little more judicious in her choices. She picked “Love Ya Bunches” after reading a few pages and “Witch” because her sister has it but wouldn’t let her read it. Conde said she likes books because they’re creative, but she’s not interested in writing them.”I want to be an artist and illustrate them,” she said.Elvianis Munzo sat crosslegged on the floor rattling off weird but true facts from her pick, titled appropriately enough, “Weird but True.””A British candy maker made a nine-and-a-half-foot tall billboard out of chocolate,” she read. “The longest egg toss was seven and a half yards.”Imani Degesus, 7, knew exactly what she wanted when she went in to choose her books, which were “Witch” and “Princess Ellie Solves a Mystery.””I picked those books because I like fairy tales,” she said. “They show things that don’t really happen.”