Hurricane Harvey Book Club offers readers of all ages a literary oasis
-
Stacy Teicher Khadaroo Staff writer
It鈥檚 evacuation time, but a boy runs back in to get one last thing: a book. He鈥檚 heard about the Hurricane Harvey Book Club on Facebook, and he wants to join in.
That鈥檚 one of thousands of stories people have posted to the closed discussion group this week, along with videos and live streams of themselves or their children reading books aloud. In this literary oasis, toddlers have shared tongue-twisting moments reading favorite board books. Moms have written about how they鈥檝e lost everything, but now they鈥檝e got joyful tears because their children are so happy to hear the stories and share their reading with the club.
Authors and teachers have bookended their stories with reassuring smiles and virtual hugs. Posts have come in multiple languages and from as far away as Ukraine.
The book club is the creation of Kathryn Butler Mills, an elementary school teacher in Katy, Texas, who saw pictures of kids waiting out the floods in bathrooms and under staircases, some with books in hand.
鈥淥n Sunday I just woke up with it heavy in my heart and knew that the worst had not gotten here yet and they just needed a distraction,鈥� she says in a phone interview.
She sent out invitations to about 70 parents of current and former students that afternoon. By Thursday afternoon, membership had surged past 49,000. It鈥檚 just one of the countless ways people have used social media to seek and offer support as Texans wade through this historic disaster.
Watching the videos 鈥渕akes you smile and you kind of forget about what鈥檚 going on around you for a little bit,鈥� says Mrs. Mills, who teaches first- and second-graders in Katy but lives about 45 miles away in Columbus, where she expects more water to flow as it drains back into the Gulf.
With a little persuading, Lisa Knott鈥檚 son, Cooper, sat down on his bed under a bright red-and-white baseball scoreboard and read 鈥淭he Tale of Peter Rabbit鈥� while she videoed. Mills taught him for two years and he鈥檚 now a fourth-grader at the same school, WoodCreek Elementary.
They were among the earliest members of the group and he was one of the first boys to post a video. 鈥淚 told him, 鈥榊ou can be a leader in that way,鈥� 鈥� Ms. Knott says. Sure enough, he soon saw some of his friends sharing stories there, too.
Cooper鈥檚 school had been in session for a little over a week before the storm, and Knott expects it to open again Sept. 5, unless there aren鈥檛 enough teachers able to get there. She imagines that soon they'll be welcoming children from elsewhere in the district whose schools were heavily damaged.
Their home has been safe, but the roads around it are blocked, Knott says, so 鈥渋t鈥檚 been nerve-wracking 鈥� being stuck in the house for days on end, wondering and worrying and hoping things are OK. [The book club] was kind of a nice distraction for him.鈥澛�
For her part, Mills has recruited 鈥渁 village鈥� of friends and fellow teachers to help her ensure the posts stay true to what鈥檚 intended. If anyone posts a picture of the floods it鈥檚 taken down, she says, because that鈥檚 all the kids see every time they turn on the news, or for some, look out a window.
But Mills and her fellow moderators haven鈥檛 had to do much policing. 鈥淚 can absolutely say that this has been one of the most positive things I鈥檝e ever experienced. I have not one time heard a single negative thing,鈥� Mills says.
Now that the book club鈥檚 got so many members, it鈥檚 selling a T-shirt to raise money so teachers can replace flooded classroom libraries.
The shirt鈥檚 simple message: 鈥淏e Brave. Be Strong. Be Readers. Be the Light.鈥�
鈥淚 just love and applaud Mrs. Mills for thinking outside the box completely,鈥� Knott says. 鈥淪he just cares so so much about the community and the students and the well being of all the kids.鈥�
