By the time the Berg family pulled up to John Muir in their RV, the shiny new books, with titles ranging from Knuffle Bunny to Junie B. Jones is (almost) a Flower Girl, had already arrived and were placed on a cart. The First Book team and the Berg family made a couple of classroom visits to second-grade classrooms. As we wheeled in the cart, the children eyed the new books with curiosity before turning to their attention to the Berg family’s two children, Kelly and Anton, who described their trip and experiences.
In some classrooms, the students were released all at once
and they mobbed the cart. In others, teachers dismissed them one table at a
time, while the seated children squirmed with impatience. Once they reached the
cart, they eagerly began to pull out books, examining different titles
carefully and trying to decide. One girl bounced over to her friend, proudly
displaying her new copy of National
Geographic Readers: Cats vs. Dogs and declaring, “This is the cutest book!”
In one classroom, a small scuffle arose over the last copy of Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs,
which proved to be popular as the class had recently written to and received a
response from the author, Mo Willems. The final classroom visit finished with
Kelly reading aloud a childhood favorite, When
You Give a Mouse a Cookie. As we left each classroom, we could see the
children clutching their new book closely or already engrossed in its pages.
After three classroom visits, the Berg family and First
Book-Seattle started on the second part of the distribution, which took place
in the nearby low-income housing project where many of the students live. After
the Berg family parked their RV, we set up two tables to separate the beginning
and intermediate reader books and move large boxes of books from the RV as
curious children began to gather around us.
As we unpacked the boxes, the children swarmed around and
began to seize copies of Wayside School
Gets a Little Bit Stranger and Fancy
Nancy at the Museum, pausing to grab any new books that hit the table. Some
wer were choosing books not only for themselves but also for absent siblings.
One boy held up The Fairy Tale Detectives
and Fairies in the Quest for Neverland
and asked us which book we thought his older sister would like better.
Because the number of books being distributed was larger
than usual, each child was allowed more than the usual one book and many looked
relieved to find out that they would not have to undergo the difficult struggle
to choose between the newest Rick Riordan book and The Hobbit. The crowd
continued to grow as more children streamed in, having been let out of school. The
First Book crew and Berg family members navigated their way between tables,
recommending books and complimenting the children on their good taste. Many
children, satisfied with their choices, plopped down their pile of new books and
sat down to read, while others showed off their loot to their friends. 
