Reading carnival helps kids make a splash with books

Author: Noelle Bullion

Children entered a new world filled with underwater excitement upon entering the McCullough social space in the afternoon of Saturday, March 5. The "Dive Into Reading" Carnival 2005, which was co-hosted by Page 1 Literacy and MIX, let kids explore books with 12 stations of crafts based on popular children's literature.

This is the third annual Reading Carnival organized by MIX and Page 1. The two groups collaborated their individual contributions well, with Page 1 foused on the literature component of the event and MIX on the culture component.

On-campus coordinator of Page 1 Colin Meltzer '05 said the carnival's goal was to "have children from the community interact with college students in an event revolving around literacy."

Upon entering, the children received a "passport" to be a "Super Cool Underwater Book Agent." The kids then had Polaroid pictures taken of them and were then sent off on a mission to "dive in and find 12 books!"

The craft stations each featured a different book and were overseen by members of many other Campus and student-run organizations including Ross Commons, Xenia, Page 1, MIX, the Pre-Medical Society, Alianza Latinoamericana y Caribena, Dolci, Hillel, Middlebury Asian Student Organization, African American Alliance and Wonnacott Commons.

For the event, the social space was decorated with blue and green streamers, brightly painted mermaids, crabs and a variety of other sea creatures - a vibrant set-up for a child's reading adventure.

Children, carrying brightly colored winter jackets, filled the room with their laughter and excitement. About 80 to 90 children attended along with their families. MIX President Dena Simmons '05 said, "The carnival was a success. We had more families at the carnival this year than in the past two years."

On the stage, a painting of a dolphin announced the "Reading Cove," where enthusiastic college students shared their station's books with the children. Dean Atyia '08.5 read Dr. Seuss' tongue twister "Fox in Sox" and said, "The kids understood it better than I was able to [when younger]."

MIX provided food and entertainment, giving families a taste of different cultures with Spanish tortillas, Cajun macaroni and cheese, Japanese garlic teriyaki beef, Mexican wedding cookies, Greek spinach hors d'oeuvres and fried plantains from Ghana. During the event, they received requests for recipes from enthusiastic parents.

Families also sampled some tasteful music by Los Guitarristas, a band featuring Simran McKenna '07 and Nikitas Stamatopoulos '07, who sang songs in both English and Spanish.

Some of the most popular activites included making sock-puppets and balloon gags based on the book "Walter the Farting Dog." Bright butterflies and a "Harold and the Purple Crayon" coloring table added even more excitement to the room.

It was the sponsors' hope that when they left, the children took, along with their passport and art projects, a better idea of diversity and a heightened interest in reading.