OPEN BOOK, OPEN MINDS : When Tustin Resident Bud Green Reads, Fifth-Graders Listen--and, He Hopes, Head to the Library Themselves

Large of stature and loud of voice, Bud Green isn’t the warm, cuddly sort most people would imagine when they think of someone who likes to read to children.

“When you first meet him, he looks like this rough, gruff guy,” said DeVera Heard, principal of Wilson Elementary School in Santa Ana. “When he starts reading, this gentle side comes out. You can tell he loves these kids.”

Twice a week, Green visits Wilson’s fifth-graders just to entertain them with a book.

For two years, he’s been a member of Rolling Readers, a national organization based in San Diego that sends volunteers to classrooms to read to children. The 79-year-old Tustin resident hopes that by reading to the kids, he’ll inspire a lifelong love of books.

“The purpose is for them to become interested enough in reading that they’ll always have a library book in their bedroom,” he said.

Green has another, more personal, motive for being a reader: “I’m a bigmouth guy. I like to be heard, and I really like working with children.”

Indeed, when he stands before a group of watchful-eyed kids and opens a book, he becomes a different person. Actually, he becomes many people, taking on the tone and facial expressions of whichever character springs to the page.

On a recent visit to Susan Lear’s fifth-grade class at Wilson, Green introduced 30 students to “Maniac Magee,” the hero of Jerry Spinelli’s comic children’s novel.

“Pay close attention, because it’s a good story and you’ll enjoy it,” Green told the class. Then he began:

“They say Maniac Magee was born in a dump. . . . They say he kept an 8-inch cockroach on a leash.”

As Green described the antics of Maniac, he constantly made eye contact with the children surrounding him. When Maniac hit a baseball out of the park, Green pretended to watch the ball as it sailed off into the imaginary bleachers. When the story became suspenseful, his voice became hushed. When the characters shouted, he did too.

It’s not easy to read to kids accustomed to television, computer games, videos and other high-tech entertainment, but Green usually manages to hold the students’ attention throughout the 30- to 45-minute sessions.

When his time with Lear’s students was up and he told the children he had to quit, the class issued a collective and disappointed “Aw!”

“But I’ll be back Friday,” he said.

“Yesssss!” came the response.

This was Green’s first meeting with Lear’s class. He’ll read to those students for seven more sessions, long enough for him to finish “Maniac Magee.” Starting in October, he’ll meet Mondays and Fridays with two fifth-grade classes at Wilson for the entire school year.

The students get to know him well.

“I’m 93 years old,” he joked in front of Lear’s students with his hands stuffed into the pockets of his shorts. “Do you believe that? I live alone. My wife died two years ago. I’m what you call a widower.”

“Ah, sorry,” said a sympathetic boy in the back.

“I have three kids, ages 40 to 49. I worked most of my life for the aerospace industry, where they build airplanes. Now I read to guys like you.”

Green has always loved books, especially a good detective novel. A retired electrical engineer, he volunteered with Rolling Readers as a way to keep busy.

“After my wife died, I had nothing to do. I was rattling around in a big house. Then I lucked in on this. I don’t do this because I’m altruistic; I do it because I gain something. I get a sense of accomplishment that’s really gratifying.”

Rolling Readers has 1,500 volunteers like Green in Orange County. An eclectic group, they include retirees, a lawyer and a small group from Boeing in Anaheim. The readers visit schools throughout Orange County.

“We have principals calling us all the time requesting a reader. We primarily visit lower-income schools, because we feel that’s where we’re needed most,” said Anita Price, a retired teacher from Orange who started the local chapter in 1994.

“It’s made a difference in a lot of children’s attitude toward reading. In many cases, they don’t have people who read to them at home. Today, we have TVs, Nintendos and other distractions we didn’t used to have. We have families who can’t read. Children aren’t growing up with a love of books.”

Several times a year, Rolling Readers gives away books, including high-quality hardcover books donated by publishers for all of the participating children.

“These are probably the only books these children will own,” Price said. “Very few of them have books in their home. If their families have $10 or $15 left over at the end of the month, they can’t afford for it to go to books.”

Green says he almost never misses a reading session. It’s important for the children to know that someone cares enough to show up without fail, he said. Only ongoing respiratory problems--which twice have landed him in the hospital--have kept him from his kids.

“His health isn’t that good, but he pushes himself to go that extra mile,” Wilson Principal Heard said. “He knows the kids are counting on him.”

Green also volunteers with HOSTS, or Help One Student to Succeed, a national mentor reading program, at Nicolas Junior High School in Fullerton. HOSTS provides volunteer readers for seventh- and eighth-graders who are reading below grade level but don’t qualify as having reading disabilities. Green meets with students one on one or in small groups for three hours every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

“He’s been with the program since it started here two years ago,” said Rosanna Valenzuela, volunteer coordinator at Nicolas. “He’s never missed a day, and the kids love him. A lot of them have written him letters. They appreciate the time he spends, and they know he’ll always be there. They think he’s a neat guy.”

Last year, 13 students Green worked with raised their reading level from the fourth grade to the seventh grade. Of all 82 seventh-grade Nicolas students who participated in HOSTS, 38.8% advanced four years in reading level, 31.3% advanced three years and 7.5% had a five-year increase.

In a letter to Green, a seventh-grader named Jose wrote: “You are a very help(ful), understanding, funny, cool mentor. . . . Thank you.”

To Green, improving the students’ reading comprehension makes it all worthwhile.

“The secret to success in life is your ability to handle the language,” he said. “Reading is involved in everything you do.”

He likes to read to fifth-graders because they have better reading comprehension than younger students.

Green does choose carefully which books he’ll read to the students and regularly searches the children’s section of the library for candidates.

“There’s never a time I haven’t read a story myself. I need to know what’s in there. If it’s not interesting to me, it won’t be interesting to them. They’ll sense in your voice if you really like it.”

He stays away from books by Mark Twain.

“It was written in a time when the country had a totally different philosophy toward race. The language used is not appropriate now, and you can’t expect an 11-year-old to understand that it comes from a different era.”

He has read “Maniac Magee” to four classes. “I love it. It has a lot of comedy and it has lessons in ethics. Kids relate well to it.”

Green does everything he can to bring the pages of a book to life. “The best thing you can do is make the kids listen to the tone of your voice and understand the emotions that are involved. If a character is shouting, I may shout. I’ve even been known to try to sing. If you let your own enthusiasm show, the kids will catch on.”

Once he even sent away to the Tasty Baking Co. in Philadelphia for a case of Tastykakes’ butterscotch krimpets--Maniac Magee’s favorite treats--and brought them to class.

“I lugged them in, and each kid got a little package of krimpets. I think I got more fun out of it than they did,” he said.

He can tell when kids are bored with a story. “If they start talking among themselves, you’ve lost them,” he said. “That’s distressful to me.”

Fortunately, that seldom happens. Green knows the students enjoy the reading sessions by the look on their faces when they see him coming.

“I’ll be getting out of my car and they see me and they start hollering,” he said. “These kids love this stuff. It’s a nice, warm feeling.”

* Rolling Readers’ Orange County chapter has an office at the Orange County Department of Education in Costa Mesa. To request a reader or to become a volunteer, call: (714) 966-4469.

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