about moi
Books have always been my passion, since childhood. The day I read my first "hardcover" novel from page to page was a proud moment for me. Oddly enough the title of the book was "The Donner Party" which details a wagon trip from the midwest. The Donner Party was the most famous tragedy in the history of the westward migration. Almost ninety wagon train emigrants were unable to cross the Sierra Nevada before winter, and almost one-half starved to death. A rather macabre story on retrospect. So began my journey with books. One quote and my motto being:
When I get a little money, I buy books;
and if any is left, I buy food and clothes
~ Desiderius Erasmus 1466-1536 ~
At the age of twenty one my illustrious career as a blackjack dealer launched in the biggest little city of Reno Nevada. The pay was good, the job was fun. I continued to attend college at the University of Nevada after having completed two years at a Community College immediately after High School(Columbia Recreational College). While working in Reno, I accepted a job as a "croupier" (a fancy way of saying blackjack dealer)) on the cruise ships. The experience helped broaden my horizons. Upon falling in love with a handsome Cuban on the ship, we moved to the jewel in the desert the city of Las Vegas together. Our time together proved short, he went back to Miami and I stayed in Las Vegas continuing to deal cards and attend the University of Las Vegas graduating in 1997 with a Bachelor of Science Degree. My life continued in the "casino business" working at several clubs. As a little side note, remember the little box found on job applications asking "your hobbies", well reading would immediately come to mind and somehow when I was much younger I thought that sounded "tame" or even "boring". Later as I became more sure of myself I proudly wrote "READING".
In late 1999, I logged on to a friends's computer to play poker and met my future husband. If you had told me that was going to happen I would have said "NO WAY". Such is fate. Having resigned to never being married or having children, I had totally accepted what was to be (or not to be), truthfully deep inside I was lonely and felt as if I did not really "belong" anywhere. The photo(s) seen above are the first sent in the very scary "photo exchange" element of meeting online. After delaying sending a photo forever, I finally ventured to the local mall and popped in a photo booth and sent them off. Ours is a true Internet love story, he is the only one I have ever met and dated online. (his past experiences online are perhaps another story) He worked as an engineer in a company in the San Francisco Bay Area, a distance from Las Vegas. He subsequently was offered an engineering job in Pasadena, California and stated "he was not going without me". Hence at the age of forty-two my beautiful snow white Persian cat (tiny) and I joined him and began our new life. Life is full of surprises. We married and became blessed with a beautiful baby boy in 2000 when I was forty-four years old. A fairy tale ending of sorts. At last, my happily ever after. not exactly. My husband was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and hospitalized. Immediately I sprung into action putting our one year old baby in the car, recruiting my mother and stating that the plan was that "I would start at the top of California looking for work at an American Indian Casino working my way down". Lo and behold I soon found work at a cozy Native American Indian Casino in rural Northern California. Our family left the pricey southern California life and settled in up north. After several years, it became necessary to remain home fulltime and I left my job, concentrating on raising our son and addressing other issues. Playing with him I discovered a real love for arts and crafts (with books a big part of our life as well). Mixing the two passions resulted in creating Storybags and a new chapter in my life.................
You may be asking yourself, "what does an ex-blackjack dealer know about literacy and early childhood reading readiness". Good question. True, I am simply a parent, and one that cares about childrens' futures. Promoting reading and providing literacy and language activities that help children become readers is something I am highly enthusiastic about. Anyone that knows me would agree that reading has always been a huge part of my life. Being involved with it is a natural progression. Never underestimate the infinite beauty of the creative force within us all. It is my sincere wish that every child have a literate friendly home. It truly begins in the home. If I could give a STORYBAGS out to every child, I would. and I do provide as many as possible to children in need. Myself, I possess a college degree, however; not in education. To all the experts out there in the field, I applaud you. and also thank you for your extensive work and research within the field of literacy. Hopefully, my Storybags will enhance the work they are committed to doing. There is tremendous work with amazing results in this field from some very dedicated educators. It is fascinating to read and learn from such professionals. We are fortunate to have them in our world.
Storybags are so much fun to make and there are so many wonderful children's books. Along with this creative endeavor, my dream of becoming altruistic manifested with teaching children at our local church, guiding local youth groups and working at schools setting up "Family Reading Nights". Other areas of interest include: The United Through Reading® program which is a group ( www.unitedthroughreading.org ) that helps ease the stress of separation for military families by having deployed parents read children’s books aloud via DVD for their child to watch at home.
Reach Out and Read www.reachoutandread.org/ is a program with pediatricians that encourages parents to read aloud to their young children and give their patients books to take home at all pediatric check-ups from six months to five years of age, making reading an important part of pediatric care. BOOK IT (www.bookitprogram.com/), Book Adventure (bookadventure.org)
Read Across America (http://www.nea.org/readacross/ ) There is the incredible Pajama Program (http://www.pajamaprogram.org/ ) all good resources. Raising a Reader is another excellent source (http://www.raisingareader.org/ ). An innovative and dynamic program to note is Get Ready to Read! (GRTR!) (http://www.getreadytoread.org) a national initiative to build the early literacy skills of preschool-age children. GRTR!'s program vision is that all preschool children will have the skills they need to learn to read when they enter school. My most current work is with the online group In2Books from ePals (http://www.in2books.com ) an evidence-based, curriculum-aligned eMentoring program that fosters reading, writing and critical-thinking skills. It has been shown to significantly improve students' literacy skills and love of learning. AND it is all completely online. Please check out these productive groups helping children and literacy.
Digital stories read and watched online are so much fun and we are big fans of them. Nothing will ever replace traditional books, however; being open to new things is essential. Coming from a rather eclectic background I can attest to that. My beloved father would tell me to read soup can labels when I said I had nothing to read. (thanks Dad for that tip)
In all honesty I love researching (cruising the net) learning about reading and finding products for the Storybags, ALOT. The resources out there are amazing and one finds more and more. Discovering new ideas and sharing information with others makes me happy.
Thank you for visiting my site. Please contact me if you have any questions, book recommendations or reading programs to suggest. Promoting reading is something I care deeply about and my site helps provide STORYBAGS to children and parents around the globe. Everyone finds their niche eventually and scratch it. this is mine.
Happy Reading to You and Your Child. Please grab a Storybag and let the fun begin, you will be delighted with the response. Love, laugh and Read together. Your child may learn things along the way in a fun way.
.Author Alice Hoffman:
"Books may well be the only true magic."
"Books may well be the only true magic."
