Welcome to Share Literacy

“Thank you for the wonderful books. The kids were so excited! It was a great time, so they can read it over their winter break.”
—Melanie Bank, Third Grade Teacher at Cesar Chavez Academy, East Palo Alto, CA (received books through the East Palo Alto Kids Foundation)

“Thank you so much for your generous donation of children’s books for Family Supportive Housing’s Annual Christmas Shoppe.  Your donation will help make this holiday season memorable for our residents. We are so grateful for your support.”
—Patricia Crowder, Executive Director, Family Supportive Housing, Inc., San Jose, CA

 “Thank you again for the wonderful gift of books you gave to our youth. Here are some pictures from our CORAL sites and some from Washington United Youth Center.”
—América G. Aguirre, Operations Director, Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County, Children, Youth and Family Development, San Jose, CA

“We are so grateful for your generosity in donating many copies of The Clever Boy and the Terrible, Dangerous Animal by Idries Shah.

This past December I led a read aloud of the book to a group of Kindergarten through 2nd graders at the Roxbury Tenants of Harvard Association’s After School Program in Mission Hill, Boston. The students loved the story and particularly enjoyed participating in the ‘Ohh, Ahh, and Ooo’ parts of the story. It’s always wonderful to see students’ faces when they realize that the terrible animal is just a watermelon!

After we read the story, the students happily created some thank you notes with their favorite scenes from the book. They were so overjoyed to receive a copy for their very own library at home (we even had a small discussion on what exactly a “home library” is!).

Thank you again for the donation and I hope you enjoy the attached notes.”

“My 'House,' 22 fifth through 8th graders, goes to the first grade on Tuesday's and Thursday's for about 45 minutes. Before we go I have the students highlight questions from the online 'Reading Guides,' provided on your website. They pick a couple from the 'before,' 'during' and 'after' sections to ask the students they are tutoring. After reading the stories, my students have the first graders draw their favorite scenes, draw the beginning, middle and ending of the story, or make puppets of their favorite characters.

Sometimes my students record the first graders' answers in a 'Reading Journal.' We also do reflections in this journal before and after our tutoring sessions.  This is also where we keep their drawings.

We split up into two different first grade classes and both teachers are very impressed with the lay-out of the 'Reading Guides' and thought they were very nicely put together.

…Two highlights for me were when a sixth grader told me about her wiggling and squirming kids who all of a sudden grew silent when she uttered the words, 'Once upon a time....' The other is the puppet set a first grader made of the distance between the two villages in the 'The Clever Boy and the Terrible Dangerous Animal.' (Here is a picture of both – the girl and her two students are reading in the hallway, and the boy is holding up his prop for his puppet show.)”

“Once again the Migrant Education Program would like to express our gratitude for the wonderful donation of books. Donations like this really motivate our children to read. Every child was given a new book to take home at the end of our program which was very exciting for them! I would also like to mention, how wonderful it is to have bilingual books. Many of our parents only speak Spanish and the bilingual stories makes it possible for those parents to read with their children…”
—Cynthia Rodriguez, Director of Supplementary Services

“…I wish you could have seen the looks on the faces of the students and teachers as they received their books. Their expressions made it evident how much they valued receiving their own brand new book. The stories are enjoyed so much by our students and the illustrations are amazing. Being able to hear their story on a CD was very special for our visually impaired students.
—Jean Gallagher, Director of Special Education

“Thank you very much for your generous donation of books and materials. We cannot wait to put these books in the hands of children in our area. We have learned how important literacy is and how badly we must help our state to support literacy programs.”

“There were some very good comments by parents, including one from a mom who has always felt bad that she didn’t continue in school after the 5th grade. She said that she feels comfortable with Hoopoe books in Spanish and her daughter can also read with her in English and Spanish.”

From Rosemary Cameron, a Teacher at the CBET (Community-Based English Tutoring) Class at Avondale Elementary (they received SILLY CHICKEN by Idries Shah):

“...thank you so much for the books.  I picked them up this morning and we did them in class today.  I have limited time as we finish this semester on Friday.  Well, let me tell you.  This book was so great on so many levels.  First it was funny, they loved the illustrations.  But as soon as we finished the story, they immediately connected it to the minister who recently forecast the end of the world on May 21, (which of course didn't happen).  Some of my students ... took it a step further and talked about the internet, Facebook, etc.  So many kids (and adults) post things on the internet that aren't true, but because no one bothers to check the facts, the story gets circulated around the world in minutes. They talked about the bullying that occurs on Facebook which has resulted in suicides.

“Isn't it amazing that a story that is 1000 years old is so relevant today.  My students won't have time to write to you, but please accept this as thanks from them.”

Dr. Ross also sent copies of thank you notes from over 16 students at the Laubach Literacy’s Rancho Bernardo ESL Center: (they received THE MAN AND THE FOX by Idries Shah). Here are just a few of the comments:

“I like the book.” —Hakimeh M.

“Thank you for the book. My children liked the book”. —Nasiman

“I like the story.” —Wafad

“Thank you for the book.”  —Ghayda G.

“I liked the story, my son love it and I love you.” [no name]

Here are some examples of El Cajon Adult School ESL students’ letters of appreciation: (they received FATIMA THE SPINNER AND THE TENT by Idries Shah):

“Dear Dr. Ross:
“My name is Zonia R.P. I am from Mexico. I am in an intermediate ESL class at El Cajon Adult School. I want to thank you for the beautiful story. This story teaches me an important lesson about life and how people can overcome their problems. This is very important for children to understand. Thank you again for the wonderful book....”

“Dear Dr. Ross:
“My name is Brenda F. I am from Michoacan, Mexico. I am a quadriplegic. I broke my neck in a car accident....This book brought back some memories and it touched me. Also, I identified with Fatima. Just like Fatima I have had many struggles... [and I] learned again nothing can’t stop me, because I can relate to the facts and to some of the terrifying things she went through. So, I really appreciate you for donating these books and giving us this important lesson. These books are going to be very beneficial not just for me but for all of the students that you donated these books to...”

“Dear Dr. Ross:
“My name is Hadeel S. I’m from Iraq. I’m in an intermediate ESL class at El Cajon Adult School. In Iraq I was an employee in an electric company. I’m a refugee from Iraq. I want to thank you for the beautifully illustrated book I received. I love this story. This story teaches an important lesson about life; how people can overcome their proglems. This is very important for children to understand...”

“Dear Dr. Ross:
“Thank you for the wonderful gift of books... I have come to this adult school for one year and six months. When I started taking this class, I couldn’t talk and read well in English. But I always have a dream to go to college to be a nurse. My teacher encouraged me to read books...This book is one of my favorite books. Fatima had gone through the hard situations for many times, but her attitude was always positive... I have a dream to be a nurse... Even if it takes me a long time and I have a difficult time, I will never give in til I become a nurse...Like Fatima did, she kept moving forward in every situation. We can always learn important lessons from unfortunate experience. This book really encouraged me to start college. One day, I would like to come to this class wearing my scrubs with my nursing license.”  —Airi C. (from Japan)

To read more comments from El Cajon, click here.