Marrice Coverson, a Chicago activist and educator, came up with the idea for the Open Book Program during an airplane flight to Mississippi.
What, she wondered, if an entire class read a book together and then wrote and performed a play based on it?
In the 12 years since then, hundreds of Chicago schoolchildren have joined the popular reading program, which uses books to help kids’ imaginations soar.
Open Book brings together a community of students, teachers, artists, parents and well-known African-American authors to celebrate reading for pleasure. “It’s not a teaching program,” Coverson said. “There are no tests.”
Coverson aims to foster a lifetime love of reading, as a gateway to a world of ideas.
The program is offered for one class each year at participating schools. With help from an artist, the group then produces an original play based on the book they read. They invite the book’s author to attend a performance of their play and to participate in a question-and-answer session.
“When I started the program, I thought it would be good for high school students,” Coverson said. “But research shows that students form habits much younger. So we went for elementary students, ages 9 to 12.”
Coverson is pastor of Church of the Spirit in Chicago and director of the nonprofit Institute for Positive Living, Open Book’s parent organization. Her love of learning led her to earn a master’s degree in public administration from Roosevelt University, as well as degrees in religious studies and sociology.
Six Chicago schools are offering the Open Book program this year, including two charter schools and four traditional public schools. Open Book, which relies on grants from public and private sources, will hold a fundraising event May 12 to help pay for authors’ visits and other expenses.
Sixth-graders in Davonta Sabbs’ class at Joplin Elementary School, 7931 S. Honore Ave., attend Open Book classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Last month, their play, based on “The Road to Paris,” by Nikki Grimes, won first place in an annual competition among all the Open Book schools.
“The Road to Paris” tells the fictional story of Paris, a young girl who gets shuffled from one foster home to another. Readers share Paris’ growing pains as she eventually learns what it means to have a real home.
At Joplin School, performing artist Samara Smith helped the students with their play. Sixth-grader Jennile O’Connor landed the leading role as Paris.
“Open Book helps us read better, but in a fun way,” Jennile said.
Jennile said she enjoys reading all kinds of books, but usually chooses fact-based books over fiction.
Prelonias Wright, a classmate who also acted in the play, said that “this is the best class I’ve had this year. And I really liked winning the trophy for the best play.”
Prelonias said he prefers to read fiction, “especially the books that make you laugh.”
At the competition, a panel of judges graded students on creativity, teamwork, enunciation and whether the performers were having fun. Grimes, a best-selling author and poet, helped with the judging.
Open Book encourages parents to get involved, said Alene Mason, principal of Joplin. “They attend the events and they helped with costumes for the play,” she said.
While reading is fun, the program has serious benefits: Students can discuss feelings of anger and other frustrations faced by characters in books, Mason said. This helps children deal with real-life situations at home.
Jan Spivey Gilchrist, a Chicago children’s book illustrator and writer, was the first author in the Open Book program. “For a while, I was the only author. Now they get authors to come in from all over the country,” she said.
A former teacher and the mother of two adult children, Gilchrist is Internet-savvy. She said she talks to students in their classrooms using Skype, and can use the webcam to give them a virtual tour of her art studio.
But Gilchrist is not a fan of all technology, including e-books for children.
“Young children get pleasure from turning the pages of books over and over again, and families pass books down through generations. You can’t do that with an e-book,” she said.
Todd Barnett, assistant principal at Donohue Elementary School, 707 E. 37th St., part of the University of Chicago Charter School group, said his school has worked with Open Book for two years.
”It’s a rare opportunity for students to read culturally relevant and age-appropriate books, and then to dialogue with the authors,” he said. “In an age filled with text messaging and video games, we are seeing children choosing to read books because of this program.”
The fifth-grade students at Donohue also keep journals to document their reading.
But Open Book is focused more on life-learning than academics, Barnett said.
“The kids in Open Book aren’t necessarily those at the top of their classes,” he said. “Through this program, they read books about peer pressure and family issues, things that they are experiencing. This gives them a chance to develop life skills.”
Books are chosen based on recommendations from reading teachers and librarians, as well as the American Library Association, which sponsors the annual Coretta Scott King Book Award, given to top-rated books for African-American children, Coverson said.
At a presentation last summer at Gregory Elementary School, 3715 W. Polk St., best-selling children’s book author Sharon Draper encouraged kids to read outside of school.
As a child, she said, she went to the library during her summer vacation and picked out 10 books each week.
“By the end of the summer, I had read 110 books,” she said. “I still read over 100 books a year.”
More information about the Open Book Program and the Institute for Positive Living is available at openbookprogram.org.
