The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

I've known Roz Edwards for almost thirty years. I've also known how fun storytelling can be for kids and what she began to do when the world shut down with COVID-19 is a story I needed to hear.

Edwards, like many grandparents, has always enjoyed reading to her grandchildren. In March, she read a book about Marco Polo to her youngest granddaughter, Margot, through Zoom. That month, schools went to distance learning, and she knew many kids weren't going to have that experience. It was also time for Spring Break.

"What were kids going to do?" Edwards asked herself. "There wouldn't be the usual Easter bunny appearances or egg hunts like they'd had before. So, I started looking at my collection of old children's books. I decided I would read a book every day during Spring Break."

Edwards doesn't have a Facebook account, but her husband, George, does. He suggested they start recording and posting her storytelling for friends and family. It quickly moved to the All Things Dayton, WA Facebook page.

"The feedback I got was amazing, even from adults who were touched by it. Someone said I was like Mr. Rogers. So I promised I'd read once a week until school was out for summer."

She took a break, then started reading again in the fall. She read over the Thanksgiving holiday and read every day for winter break.

The community loved it.

For several years, Edwards had also been reading stories aloud to her mother-in-law, Ava Jean, a resident at Whitman Place Senior Living in Walla Walla. After the COVID-19 pandemic started, a few other residents began to join the Zoom sessions. She was Dayton Elementary School's librarian from the mid-1990s until her retirement in 2015. Of course, storytime was a key part of that role.

And Edwards knows about roles: she's been a member of the Touchet Valley's community theater family since 2000. She has never been shy about getting on stage. Acting out a story with a touch of costuming here and there is how Edwards brings stories to life. Sometimes she sings a song or does a little dance. Sometimes she uses finger puppets. When she finds something that resonates with her, she shares it. Edwards dressed as a cowgirl while reading from Cowgirls: Women of the Wild West by Elizabeth Clair Flood.

Remembering my fourth-grade teacher, Mrs. Krebs, and how she read to us every Friday afternoon of my tenth year, I asked Edwards why she thought reading to children is so important.

"It's another way of experiencing the story. It gets them excited about reading," she said. "I love watching kids' brains catch on fire and ask questions. I always ask them questions, too, about the story. Their answers can be amazing. And it magnifies the story and the impact this experience has on them."

Edwards chooses books with great pictures and stories that often have a deeper meaning. She uses the images as a springboard for the questions she asks. Especially during the pandemic, she has often reminded listeners to keep hopeful, be extra kind, and help one another.

"Children especially need to be reminded of these things," she said, "They need to be reminded of their own resiliency and the positive people in their lives."

So, it turns out that my fourth-grade teacher was helping me prepare for a pandemic. Her spirit has always remained with me, one of the positive people in my life nearly 50 years ago, infusing my life with imagination, creativity, resiliency. Reading to children is that important.

And it turns out I could have asked that question about people of any age. A book club is one thing but having someone read a story to us is something we seem never to outgrow. In conjunction with Black History Month in February, Roz has begun reading "A Band of Angels," a story inspired by the famed Jubilee singers of Fisk University. It is written for young people, but Edwards is reading it for the residents of Whitman Place. For them, she must be like an angel on a mission of mercy.

She now reads to George every night.

"At first, he said, 'I'll probably fall asleep,' but he likes it," she said. "He insisted on it."