Literature to life

Suzie Harrison

In each seat was an enthusiastic family member waiting for the plays

to begin. They’re eager to see their budding actor on stage, after

hearing him or her practice their lines for weeks, as part of Top of

the World Elementary School’s Third Grade Literature Festival.

Dan and Mary Shapero were excited to see Alex play Christopher

Robin in “The Magic Bookshelf,” a play about the importance of

reading and imagination.

“I know the kids are real excited,” Dan said. “He has been

rehearsing it the last three weeks -- every chance he got.”

Mary expressed how hard the teachers and parents have worked to

produce it.

Annie and Ken Sadler were perched in the front row to see their

son George play Peter Pan.

“It’s really awesome, our biggest challenge was deciding which toy

sword he would use, he has a lot,” Annie said. “He’s concerned about

weapons on campus -- he chose his softest sword, the least

threatening one, because he’s that kind of kid.”

“The King’s Bean Soup” was performed first. It was comedic play

abut the strife the whole town was suffering because they could not

find the missing ingredient for the king’s favorite bean soup, which

had been handed down for generations. After repeatedly trying, the

cooks had no luck -- it was a beggar played by Erik Henrikson, who

finally realized that the missing ingredient was the most obvious,

the beans.

Diana Necula played the third cook.

“I liked that I got to bring the soup to the king and say what I

got to say at the end,” Diana said. “I said that ‘I want my mommy, I

want my mommy,’ and I did.”

“All the third-grade classes do the literature festival,” teacher

Sharon Maloney said. “The whole theme is to read over the summer to

enjoy literature and fantasy -- it’s the conclusion of their early

childhood years.”

They invite the second grade classes to be part of the audience,

to introduce them to skills they’ll be working on, or continue to

work on such as memorization and oral skills.

“The Magic Bookshelf,” Maloney said, teaches the theme of learning

to love to read.

Many well-known characters in children’s literature such as

Cinderella, Peter Pan, “Alice in Wonderland” and a few others explain

the difference between “real pretend” and “pretend pretend.”

“Look I’m real,” Peter Pan said. “We’re real pretend -- I’m the

realest kind of real there is.”

They learn that the only way to keep the magic is to keep reading,

reading as many books as possible and getting to know all the

characters.

George explained his method of acting.

“I just practiced a lot at home and pretty soon I memorized my

lines,” George said. “I wasn’t nervous at all. My favorite part was

when I first came in and pulled out my sword.”

Alex Hunt played the “Fairy Godfather” in “The Magic Bookshelf.”

“I liked playing the godfather because he was like the center of

the universe and everything depended on him,” Alex said. “The moral

is don’t judge a book by its cover because it’s all about the books.”