Group promotes reading through fun atmosphere

“I know! I know!”

A Kootenai Valley Christian School student hurls his arm into the air to inform Loretta Chavez that he is familiar with the children’s story “Stone Soup.”

Chavez’s 25 years experience in the classroom was evident Tuesday as she prepared the grade-schoolers to hear the classic story in a new way.

“Pay attention,” she said, “because I’m going to ask about the trick at the end.”

Chavez recently formed a new volunteer group in Libby, Reader’s Theater for Kids, to promote the love of reading in children.

Through word-of-mouth, Chavez assembled a group of about eight people who were interested in learning to present children’s stories in an entertaining way. Tuesday marked the group’s second performance.

“Reader’s theater is a format that doesn’t require any memorization – we read the parts,” Chavez said. “We’ve taken children’s stories and transformed them into script form. We might have four or five readers who take the parts of the different characters and maybe a narrator or two to support what the characters are saying.”

Costuming and props are minimal, just enough to help the children remember who the characters are in the story.

In the case of “Stone Soup,” the group uses six characters and a narrator. For “Adrianna’s Chickens,” the other story the group performed for students on Tuesday, the group has two narrators and four characters.

Reader’s Theater members take their place at the front of the room and place their scripts on the stands. They wear “Reader’s Theater for Kids” T-shirts, along with an item to denote them as a character. In “Adrianna’s Chickens,” which takes place in Mexico, the father wears a sombrero and a serape, the two brothers also have sombreros and the little sister, Adrianna, wears a large pink bow.

The children’s eyes are glued to the characters during the performance. After the story is finished, they clamor to answer Chavez’s questions. 

“Reader’s theater helps children develop imagination skills. They have to focus on listening,” Chavez said. “It gives them another option, a format for reading. We’re trying to instill the desire to read and encourage them to do more reading on their own and maybe this will entice them a little bit.”

Reader’s Theater for Kids hopes to find more volunteers to join them, especially male readers, as the group puts together more stories to present at schools and libraries.

Chavez recruited her daughter-in-law, Leslee Chavez, and other women, such as Patricia Mayes, that she became acquainted with when she moved to Libby.

Mayes remembers having trouble reading when she was young and is happy to be part of a group that makes reading a fun, positive experience.

“I was so frightened to read out loud as a child that I would pass out,” Mayes said, “but I had someone who cared enough to bring reading to me.”

Chavez participated in a reader’s theater group for six years in Minnesota before she moved to Libby.

“I had been looking for a volunteer thing,” Chavez recalled. “I saw this and thought, ‘this fits the bill.’ It got me back into the classroom with some of the joy (of teaching) and none of the responsibility.”

The stories not only promote reading, Chavez said, they provide a positive message.

“We’re hoping they come away with some values and something they can use in their lives,” Chavez said.