September 25, 2021
Hank Bitten, NJCSS Executive Director
"Madison and Vanessa’s (age 5) reaction to Still Waiting. They brought Danielle’s book to school this week to share it with their teacher and class. Vanessa started to read the book with me first. She loved the story of the polar bear and engaged with the problem the polar bear faced with the melting snow. She loved the page with the news report because I am always reading the paper and watching the news. She immediately identified with the pictures and then read the book back to me. I was very impressed with how much she remembered and the expression with how she read the story back to me. (Of course, she cannot read)
Her twin sister saw how much Vanessa enjoyed the book so the next day Madison gave up playing with toys (The Shopper) and asked me to read the book to her. She also enjoyed it and for some time Madison has been asking thoughtful questions about nature and storms and is committed to saving our planet. She also loved the story and book and read the book back to me several times.
Let me also say that Madison and Vanessa are not book readers. Perhaps because of Covid-19, they have not been enjoying the Library as their brother did or their cousins. I am not sure if it is the fact that they are now in Kindergarten or if it is Danielle’s book, but for the past two weeks all they are doing is reading books."
This book was introduced on http://www.njcss.org/ for the New Jersey state's social studies educators and administrators.