I spent a good part of Saturday with my grandson, Aaron. We went to the Davis Center at Mill Creek Park (same place Aaron and I go for writing group) for a free event for children. It is called, "Children's Book Festival: Plant a Seed to Read." We have gone there for the past three years with the A-Team. This year Aaron saw it on the schedule early in April and asked if I would take him. His brothers were welcome to come along but chose to watch their cousins in a soccer game instead.
http://www.millcreekmetroparks.org/ParksFacilities/nbspnbspnbspnbspDavisVisitorCenter/tabid/1413/Default.aspx
Each year the building was packed with families and youngsters, all eager to see the latest books in print. Each child received a free book of his choice. There were lots of tables set up with activities for the children, crafts to make, bookmarks to decorate, games to play.
The OH Wow Center in Youngstown had a reflections table set up. Each child was shown a bookmark on which the words were written backwards. Once they figured out what the problem was, they were given a practice sheet of paper and told to write their name backward. Once that was mastered they were given a real bookmark and told to do it again. Then they held it up to a mirror in front of them and saw their names spelled out correctly.
There were stories being told throughout the building and one had lots of puppets that the children could use during the storytime. Healthy snacks were also available free to the children.
There were animals there from the Akron Zoo but we never got to see them before they left. Aaron has been to the zoo a number of times so he was okay with that.
One of the galleries in the Davis Center had a display of a book written and created by children from Youngstown. The children came to the park for a day trip. Then an author helped them describe in writing something about the park that had impressed their memories. They were taught how to make paper and created the pages for the book. Each original creation was displayed on the wall and below it were the pages of the book taken from their creations. I was amazed at how beautiful their artwork was, how sharply they portrayed what was important to them about the park, and the vibrant the colors in their artwork. The book was available for purchase and it looked like several were being sold. This awesome display is worth a trip to the Davis Center. http://www.millcreekmetroparks.org/ThingstoDo/CurrentExhibits/tabid/1579/Default.aspx
After we browsed for a while, we had lunch at the Garden Cafe overlooking Lake Glacier. The crowd had thinned some by this time so after eating we went back downstairs to look around some more. I had time to interact with some of the authors and ask questions about being published. It is so interesting to talk to people who enjoy doing the same thing as me. I purchased a book from one author who had been in Africa teaching for seven years. During that time she read to the children and they learned English from her. She invited the children to her home to paint and got to know them even better. One of the stories in the book was about an event one day after the painting session at her house. Both Aaron and I found it very interesting that she actually was part of the story and that most parts of the book were based on true events. Aaron and I are both eager to read her book. I explained to Aaron, who also loves to write, that by talking to people who already have done or are doing the things we enjoy, we can learn so much, just by asking questions.
Sometimes Youngstown gets a bad rap but there really are a lot of good programs and people here that care about our children and others. The Davis Center always has something going on from yoga classes, knitting, book festivals, flower sales, weddings in the gardens, and lots more. If you are in the area, be sure to stop and see this beautiful part of Youngstown. Mill Creek Park is a beautiful park within a large part of Youngstown, something most communities cannot boast having.
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