OXNARD : City Leaders Join in Literacy Effort

Alexandra Rios, 5, paid close attention as Oxnard Mayor Manuel Lopez read a story about a boy who was king in a land of monsters.

“And now . . . let the wild rumpus start” read Lopez who, like the boy in the story, was adorned with a cape and crown.

Lopez read “Where The Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak to Rios and about 60 other kindergartners Wednesday as part of Juanita Elementary School’s Royal Reading Program, designed to encourage literacy at an early age.

For the next two months the school will roll out the red carpet for parents, teachers and local notables, each of whom will wear the royal robe and read to children at the school in Oxnard’s La Colonia district.

“Reading is the basis for learning,” said Lopez, who also participated in the program last year. “If kids develop a good reading habit when they’re little, it makes things much easier later on.”

The children liked Lopez’s story so much that he decided the read another: “The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day,” by Judith Viorst.

“Show us, show us,” came a chorus of cries from the children as Lopez described the travails of a child having an unhappy day.

Lopez obliged, opening the book wider and holding it over his head for the students to see. Since most of the students there spoke only Spanish, he read both books in English and Spanish.

The message of the 4-year-old program is that “readers are leaders,” said Juanita Principal Anthony Zubia.

“We started this so the children would have good role models,” Zubia said. “We want to show them that people they look up to in the community like to read.”

Kindergarten teacher Linda Godoy, who has been at Juanita since the program started, said it works. “It’s especially good when the reader is a man because some of the kids don’t see that very often,” she said. “A lot of times at home, if anyone is reading to them, it’s the mother.”

Two of Godoy’s students were particularly fond of “Where The Wild Things Are.” For Juan Escalante, 6, the story was a reminder of the monsters he said he sees after dark in Colonia Park, which is next to Juanita School. Oscar Zavala, 5, agreed. “Sometimes I see scary shadows there at night,” he said.

The Royal Reading program will continue through the end of April, Zubia said.