YMCA's Bob Williams to Present September Stories in the Forest
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Bob Williams, executive director of the Jonesboro YMCA, reads a story to Zachary Bielins, 3-year-old son of Candace and Paul Bielins of Jonesboro. Williams will read at Stories in the Forest at 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 6, at the St. Bernards Fun Forest at The Mall at Turtle Creek. The free program is sponsored by the Women’s Advisory Council of the St. Bernards Development Foundation on the first Saturday of each month.
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Bob Williams, executive director of the YMCA in Jonesboro, will be the reader Saturday (Sept. 6) for Stories in the Forest, a program sponsored by the Women’s Advisory Council of the St. Bernards Development Foundation. The program is to begin at 3 p.m.
Williams will read If You Give a Mouse A Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff.
The book, written in 1985 and illustrated by Felicia Bond, is about an energetic young boy who offers a little mouse a cookie. Of course, that’s only the beginning. The small rodent has some other requests precipitated by the offer of the cookie. He needs a glass of milk (after all, who can eat a cookie without milk to wash it down) and a straw. Then, he needs a napkin … and a mirror (to be sure he doesn’t have a milk moustache).
His reflection suggests he needs a haircut. And before the day is over, the bossy little mouse exhausts the generous little boy by asking for a soft pillow to take a nap, crayons to draw a picture, tape to hang the drawing on the refrigerator, a broom to sweep the floor … and much, much more.
Numeroff was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1953. She was surrounded by art, music and books for a very early age, because her father worked on the art staff of the World Telegram & Sun, and her mother was a junior high home economics teacher. She grew up enjoying drawing, reading and making up stories.
As a matter of fact, that’s how If You Give a Mouse a Cookie came to be. Numeroff says the idea came to her on a long, boring car trip. She decided to try to make a friend laugh by telling a story about a mouse nibbling on a cookie. The trip – from San Francisco to Oregon – was the spawning ground for that book – her tenth. The author says when she tried to get it published, it was turned down nine times. Finally Harper purchased it.
She has 30 books to her credit with publishers such as Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, Random House, Putnam, Abrams, Macmillan, Greenwillow, Richard Owens, Franklin Watts and Candlewick. Among them are If You Give a Moose a Muffin, If You Give a Pig a Pancake, If You Take a Mouse to School, If You Take a Mouse to the Movies, If You Give a Pig a Party, The Chicken Sisters, What Mommies Do Best, Two for Stew, Dogs Don’t Wear Sneakers and more.
Two lucky children will take home books, compliments of Barnes & Noble.
The September storytime will be held at St. Bernards Fun Forest at The Mall at Turtle Creek. Stories in the Forest is sponsored by the Women’s Advisory Council of the St. Bernards Development Foundation. In addition to giving parents some quality time with their children and exposing children to some favorite books of local residents, the storytimes have an educational focus, with printed materials available for parents.
Stories in the Forest is an outgrowth of the Women’s Advisory Council’s tremendously successful Kidz Fun Fair.
The Women’s Advisory Council is a group of about 120 area women who have joined together in an advisory role to give input on important healthcare issues impacting women and children. They encourage educational as well as service outreach efforts designed to make Jonesboro a better place to live, work and raise families.
