Here are excerpts from our December '97 newsletter:

The B.O.O.K.S. Program and the Aboriginal Community

by Colleen F. Crozier
Aboriginal Family Literacy Coordinator

Sixteen months ago I was hired to tell the Aboriginal community in Edmonton about the adult and family literacy programs at Prospects. Since then, I have met with scores of organizations and handed out all 500 of my business cards. I delivered several B.O.O.K.S. (Books Offer Our Kids Success) programs to a variety of Aboriginal organizations including Native Counselling Services, the Ben Calf Robe Society, Prince Charles (Awasis) School and the Red Road Healing Society.

One of the things I like about B.O.O.K.S. is the closeness it encourages between parent and child. The whole idea is to get parents reading to their young children. But a reading ritual is also a loving activity. It offers the chance to talk to children about other things than the everyday stuff like: "Please put your boots at the back door", and "Did you take your vitamins?".Stories lead to other stories and to interesting questions such as:" What is a tea dance?" " Why did that little bunny want to run away?" and "Did you think the littlest billy goat gruff was brave to cross the bridge all by himself?"

The Three Billy Goats Gruff by Paul Galdone is a fun book to read because the story is dramatic and suspenseful and because in the end, the brave billy goats triumph over the nasty troll. In a recent session at Ben Calf Robe, three dads attending made the most amazing felt finger puppets. Their trolls were very striking, with big fangs and fierce claws. They decorated the billy goats' horns and gave them wonderful beards which they called gruffs. They said, "How come your billy goat has such a small gruff?" Everyone was looking forward to showing the puppets to their children and reading the book to them. One mom said the next week that whenever they cross a bridge now, her little boy asks, in fun, if there is a troll underneath it. What we do in these sessions is fun but there are important lessons too. Parents begin to notice how their children's language and reading improve, often in playful ways. Some children loved the word "Patooie" which they heard in Goldilocks and the Three Bears. They went around saying it for a whole week. Children begin to recognise words on the page, especially parts that are repeated like the "Trip trap, trip trap" of the billy goats gruff story. Parents become aware of how their children copy adult behaviour. A mom told us that her two year old carefully licked her finger and turned each page, because that was how her mother did it.

The B.O.O.K.S. program is set up to appeal to young children from six months to 8 years. Parents are often surprised at how even babies enjoy books and being read to. A one year old, according to his mom, loved to hold the books by himself and look at the pictures. Another parent was pleased at being able to lure away her boys - 18 months and four years of age from television. The four year old would "read" his books to his younger brother. As the weeks go by, reading becomes a family habit and the children look forward more and more to what they call "library day".

A Family Literacy Centre

by Maureen Sanders

Prospects is about to start an exciting new project. We are in the first stages of setting up a Centre for Family Literacy in Edmonton. It will be the first of its kind in Canada! We're going to do this with a number of partners in the community including United Way and the University of Alberta.

Our plan is that at the end of 2 years, Prospects will become this Centre. We will continue to do all of the programs we do now and maybe some new ones as well. We will also provide information, training, and resources to other literacy programs in the province.

We want to find new sources of funding and new partners to help us run our programs. We will be hiring some new staff to help us make plans for the Centre. There will be lots of hard work to do before the Centre can happen. But eventually it will be worth it when we have improved services for all our members. We'll keep you updated as plans progress.

Writers' Corner

My Special Place

by Palmira Baretta.

In the olden daysin Italy, we didn't havemuch but we always were happy. To visualise a nice place was not hard. My special place was half way to Grandma'shouse. It was large, like a block here in Canada. All around were very big and old trees and a lot of different birds flying all around - so many different voices. They were making their own song.

On the left side was a small river. The water there was so clean and fresh. Just to look at the water made people go close and drink. Look to the right, there was a lot of trees full of fruit, like apple, peaches,cherries. Almost every day I would go to the place and give out all my thoughts as though it was my best friend.

I left the place and came to live in Canada but I never lost my friendship with that place. Many years later I went back to Italy. I found myself in the same place. I looked and looked. It was a little different. So was I! But always my favourite place. Tonight, just to write about the place, my memory comes back and I like that a lot.

The Place that I Like

by Rob Nichol

The place that I like to go to is the Kettle River. It is in the mountains in Southern BC. There is nothing around for miles. I used to take my dog with me and go for a couple of days. It is a great river for rainbow trout although I do not keep any of the fish. I really enjoy fishing this area. The best time to fish this river is July and August when it is hot and the river is at its low.

I like to walk the river for miles. There is always another pool around the bend. At night I like to start a fire. When I was there the first time I couldn't believe how dark it was. You could not see anything. Then my dog started to growl. When you can't see anything you wonder what's out there. At that moment the wolves started to howl.

I decided it was bed time!

Bowling

by Fred Jeschke

My wife and I learned to bowl from the pros so that we can get better and better all the time. We try harder and harder to better our scores every year. I won a hundred twenty-seven dollars for the year playing a Saturday league.

My Best Friend

by Bernice Heath

My best friend's name was Daily. She was such a wonderful friend to me. When I had my problem she was there for me to help me. My friend would come to my house. We played games together.

My friend was much older than me. She taught me a lot of things that I did not know. She was very kind and honest with me. She helped me out in all kinds of ways.

I remember when I was sick in the hospital every evening she would come andlook for me. She would bring special things for me such as ice cream and fruit. The most special thing, she would go to my home and clean up my house and do my laundry.

I love my friend very much. She is my encouragement. She was always there for me.

Karen

Kind lady
Another new student in class
Romantic
Emotional
Nice lady.

by Bernice Heath

Jose

Joking,
Other people's friend,
Student at Prospects
Emotional

by Jose

Karen

Krazy kite,
Adventurous auntie
Red, a colour I don't like
Emotional
Nice

by Karen

Sally (Karen's mother)

Silly
Adorable
Lovable
Lively
Yellow as a star in the sky

by Karen

Palmira

Polite with a friend
Alone in the house
Lonely in her heart
Mother of three
Interested in anything going on in the family
Reasonable and
Alone all the time.

by Palmira

Shaun

Smart
Handsome
Always
Understanding
Nice

by Shaun