The Row Boat Idea
There is a beautiful town in Germany just outside of Frankfurt called Bad Homburg with recently completed library (Stadtbibliothek, Bad Homburg.) In children’s area there is a wonderful small boat. This idea drove a decision to obtain a boat for our own library at Tenafly High School to be used with our child development (Tiger Cubs) program. We have installed wheels on the boat and our Tiger Cubs get a ride back to class through the hallways after each has checked out a book. It is great fun for the cubs, the high school students and the adults.
The Row-boat Story
A Fictionalized History – by David Di Gregorio
There was wooden boat built a long time ago. It was used on the lakes in the Poconos in Pennsylvania. It had a good effect on so many people through bringing them closer together as it was rowed across lakes. Fathers fishing with their sons, young lovers, families and friends, and even business people felt closer after being transported together in this noble row-boat. In a way, through its good effect on people, the boat developed a spirit of its own. Years past and after many, many trips with many different people the boat began to show age. It developed leaks and was cast aside in the corner of an old farm. Useless, it became ugly with peeling paint and rotted wood. You might say the boat looked sad. Finally, the farm owner got the idea of putting the boat up for sale.
Meanwhile, there was a school librarian in Tenafly who was looking for a wooden row-boat to use for displaying books for small children. The librarian bought the boat, sanded it down to its bare wood, then painted it with a fresh coat of nice new colors. The boat was surrounded with all kinds of interesting books to read. Now this row-boat has an important use as it provides a place to bring the thoughts of others to children through reading and transports them back to class with newly installed wheels! Would you say the row-boat looks happy again?
Many thanks to Ms. Carela for this write-up in Learning in Tenafly :
