By Sherry Posnick-Goodwin
|
|
|
|
|
Actress Keke Palmer hands out pencils to Inglewood first-graders during an art lesson with illustrator Steve Gray, who designed California's Read Across America materials. |
In the soon-to-be-released movie Akeelah and the Bee, 12-year-old actress Keke Palmer plays a student who wants to enter a spelling bee, but is afraid other students might make fun of her. When her teacher tells her that she can be anything she wants to be if she studies the written word, she decides to enter the national spelling bee.
The well-known actress is similarly inspirational in real life. Talking to 140 first-graders during a visit to Bennett-Kew Elementary School in Inglewood for Read Across America, she told them that reading can help them reach their goals.
"Reading is very important," Palmer told the starstruck audience. "When you read, you get to learn about important stuff. And reading is fun. It's not a complicated thing, and it broadens your mind."
CTA President Barbara E. Kerr kicked off California's celebration of Read Across America in her introduction of Palmer. Kerr told the students that children "just like you" all over the country were celebrating reading on this special day, and that by becoming good readers they were more likely to graduate from high school, attend college, get a good job and live happy lives.
"Now we have someone very special for you," she told the cheering crowd packed into the school's cafeteria. "She's not old like me. She has been on TV, in the movies and accomplished a lot for someone who's just 12 years old."
After hugging the event's special guest, Kerr played interviewer. Palmer confided that her favorite book of all time is Vampires Don't Wear Polka Dots by Debbie Dadey and Marcia Thornton Jones; that reading her contracts and scripts has helped her make important business decisions; and that her favorite pastimes are hanging out with friends and reading lots of books.
Palmer credits much of her success, in fact, to being able to read well and follow directions. In her native Chicago, she went to a local talent audition for Disney, and was told she should find an agent and move to California. Her mother, who's a teacher, decided to see if it was true, and moved the family to the Los Angeles area.
In just a short amount of time, Palmer won a small role in Barbershop 2: Back in Business, playing the niece of Queen Latifah. That led to guest roles on television shows like "Cold Case," "ER" and "Law & Order." Her performance in an Emmy-nominated movie, The Wool Cap , where she worked alongside William H. Macy, earned her an NAACP Image Award nomination for best actress in a movie made for television, as well as a Screen Actors Guild nomination for best leading actress. It makes her the youngest star ever nominated for a leading actor category. She's also co-starring in another recent film, Madea's Family Reunion , and has recently signed a major recording contract with Atlantic Records.
|
|
|
|
|
CTA President Barbara E. Kerr reads Farmer McPeepers and His Missing Milk Cows to enthusiastic students like Desttanie Garrido and Daniel Stevens. |
As for why she agreed to visit Bennett-Kew for Read Across America, she said, "I love talking to kids and being an inspiration."
It wasn't enough just to talk about reading, though. The event also included the real thing. Kerr, Palmer, teachers at the site and Los Angeles Dodgers community representative David Brennan (who brought Dodgers Dream Foundation shirts for all the children) broke the children into small groups to read Farmer McPeepers and His Missing Milk Cows, a book illustrated by yet another guest, Steve Gray. For the past two years, California's Read Across America theme has been "Happy Cows Come from California… Got Books?" and Gray, who's working on his seventh book, has created the artwork.
After the reading, Kerr revealed to the students that the man who "drew the pictures in the book you just read" just happened to be in the cafeteria and would teach them how to draw cows. After much cheering, Gray offered students an art lesson, demonstrating the process he uses on an overhead projector. The youngsters followed right along with him, thrilled to see their own udderly delightful creations come to life.
There was more cheering when Kerr announced that a box of books had been donated to the school courtesy of Scholastic and Barnes & Noble, including such classics as Charlotte's Web and Curious George.
"Thaaaaank you!" called out the children.
"We have one more special guest today, and her name is Mrs. Fields," announced Kerr, noting that cookies and milk were an excellent way to end an exciting event. And judging from the quiet that enveloped the cafeteria while students munched and sipped, it was indeed the perfect ending to a perfect day.
