Sharing love of reading
By Kirsten Ballard
Published in News on February 10, 2015 1:46 PM
Full Size
News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Sydney Dickerson, 5, reads one of her favorite books at the Wayne County Public Library Monday. When Sydney's family was living in Pennsylvania, she and her mother, Tiffany Greenfield Dickerson, started Sydney's Book Club. The group provides books for 3- to 5-year-olds who are not enrolled in preschool or who are from low-income or military families.
Full Size
News-Argus/JOHN JOYCE
Tiffany Dickerson passes out books at the Boo for Books event in October. Sydney's Book Club focuses on early childhood literacy.
Tiffany Dickerson wanted to throw her daughter a party.
Sydney was turning 2, and her mom did not want just "any old party" for her. But Sydney was not enamored of Mickey Mouse or anything like that.
"She was really interested in books," Tiffany said. "How am I going to come up with a party just based on books?"
The idea for Sydney's Book Club was born.
During the party, Sydney's guests participated in all book-themed activities from a "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See" skit to a colorful goldfish snack for "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish."
It was a huge success.
"It put it in my mind, 'What if Sydney's book club wasn't just a one-time thing?'"
Tiffany had a vision of what she wanted the book club to be. She says she didn't know how to get there, but she had big plans.
After the party, Tiffany challenged herself to teach her daughter how to read. By Sydney's third birthday, she was reading up to five-word sentences.
"I basically took her loves (of the outdoors and Elmo) and introduced them in the form of books. Not only did she love it outside of books, but she saw the same things were in books," Tiffany said.
Now 5, Sydney has challenged herself, but this time she wants to read 1,000 books. Meadow Lane Elementary wants students to read 100 books throughout the school year. Sydney has read 263 so far this year.
Sydney reads on the way to school each morning. Every night, she Skypes her dad, Sean, who is stationed in Georgia.
"She reads him a bedtime story," Tiffany said. "And after, she wants me to read to her."
Books are everywhere in the Dickerson house. Sydney is currently working on the Junie B. Jones series, and she reads the Sydney's Book Club books to make sure they are "Sydney Approved" before they are sent out. Tiffany wants other children to get on the same accelerated track as Sydney.
So she began the book club, focusing on increasing literacy in children before kindergarten. Sydney's Book Club has two chapters, one in Pennsylvania and the other in Goldsboro.
For her work with the book clubs, Tiffany was recognized with the 2014 Base Level Spouse of the Year award at the New Cumberland Army Depot.
"I guess you could say this is just the beginning," Tiffany said.
As she started her mission to expand Sydney's Book Club, she was confronted with startling statistics.
"We are failing our kids," she said.
She says over 40 percent of children are not ready for kindergarten.
"We can't wait for our kids to get to school," she said. "There's no guarantee that they will catch up."
Tiffany encourages reading out loud to children, from books at bedtime to pointing out words at grocery stores. The book club focuses on building children's at home libraries and providing access to books.
"You've got to show them those words, help them notice that the letter A is part of a word, and that word is part of a sentence and that is what becomes a book," she said.
Sydney's Book Club is involved in the Goldsboro Pediatrics baby talk forum.
The Pennsylvania chapter has bi-weekly meetings, while the Goldsboro one hosts a summer literacy camp and theme events throughout the year. For Halloween, the organization hosted Boo for Books, where community members are encouraged to pass out books instead of candy. They also gave away wrapped books to low-income families for Christmas. Tiffany says Goldsboro Sydney's Book Club will host a Dr. Seuss party in March to commemorate his birthday.
The group is looking for volunteers to read in schools, facilitate a bi-weekly Book Club and help with social media. Volunteers can get involved through the website www.volunteermatch.org.
During the meetings, the Book Club members participate in crafts, worksheets and a discussion to work on reading comprehension. The scheduled activities with limited downtime also help prepare the children for a classroom setting.
Tiffany and Winter McNeill, a local school teacher, are currently planning the 2015 summer literacy camp. They want to expand the program to reach more children in the area.
The free camp runs for six weeks during the summer, with three days per week.
"That's my purpose now," Tiffany said. "To increase those statistics."