Deb Andries and Her Reading Teams
May 2019

For this addi­tion to our Rais­ing Star Read­ers fea­ture, we’re delight­ed to once again be show­cas­ing Deb Andries, a Nation­al Lit­er­a­cy Con­sul­tant who lives in Wis­con­sin, and her grand­chil­dren: Fin­ley and Grayson, who live in Cum­ber­land, Wis­con­sin, and Emmer­syn, who lives in Sartell, Min­neso­ta. Gram­my and her Read­ing Teams recent­ly shared Guess How Much I Love You, writ­ten by Sam McBrat­ney and illus­trat­ed by Ani­ta Jer­am, while enjoy­ing mile­stone read-togeth­ers dur­ing their Mother’s Day celebrations.

Deb explains that the book was giv­en to her by a friend five years ago when she was a lit­er­a­cy coach in Min­neapo­lis and her fam­i­ly was eager­ly antic­i­pat­ing the arrival of both Emmer­syn and Grayson. Deb explains, “My friend knew how excit­ed I was to know that there would be two to love (and they were born five days apart!).”

The book has become very mean­ing­ful for the fam­i­ly. As Deb says, “When I think about the bond of the love between grand­par­ents and grand­chil­dren, this book sends that mes­sage. As far as our arms can reach, as high as we can hop or jump, all the way up to our toes and across the lane and down the riv­er … our love extends THAT far. When we read the book, the grand­kids are enam­ored by the illus­tra­tions and how Lit­tle Nut­brown Hare and Big Nut­brown Hare share how much they love one anoth­er. Then, we talk about those very same things. ‘I love you, Gram­my, as far as my arms can reach.’ And, ‘I love you, Emmer­syn, Grayson, and Fin­ley as far as MY arms can reach!’

Deb loves the time spent read­ing aloud togeth­er. As she explains, “This time with a book, snug­gled up tight togeth­er, is spe­cial and cre­ates a bond of love that is like no oth­er. There’s always room on Grammy’s lap for all of us to lean in to lis­ten and share the words, and then our own ‘I love you as much.…’ We also have a tra­di­tion with the book: we trace their hand­print once a year and write their name, as a ‘mem­o­ry mak­er’ of this love and bond.”

Deb adds: “We read the book around Mother’s Day this year, but we also read it many oth­er times dur­ing the year. Any day, and every day, is a good day to spend time togeth­er in books and con­ver­sa­tions around them. Read­ing indoors or out­doors, books are a pow­er­ful way to help my grand­kids learn about the world around them, share sto­ries we love, and find new sto­ries, too.”

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We here at Bookol­o­gy wish Deb and her Read­ing Teams many won­der­ful hours of read­ing togeth­er this sum­mer! If you would like us to fea­ture your Read­ing Team when Bookol­o­gy starts up again in the fall, con­tact Lisa Bullard for fur­ther infor­ma­tion about how to participate.