The Row Boat Idea
There is a beautiful town in Germany just outside of Frankfurt called Bad Homburg. Within this town is a recently completed library called Stadtbibliothek – Bad Homburg – a beautiful facility with a children’s area that includes a wonderful small boat. This idea drove a decision to obtain a boat for our own library at Tenafly High School to be used mainly with our child development (Tiger Cubs) program. See our students along with the toddlers in our own row-boat, and read the story of how it got to Tenafly. We have installed wheels on the boat and our Tiger Cubs get a ride back to class through the hallways in the boat 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:
This wooden boat was built a long time ago and used on the lakes in the Poconos in Pennsylvania. It had a good effect on many people through bringing them closer together. Fathers fishing with their sons, young lovers, families and friends, and even business people felt closer after being 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 its age. It developed leaks and was eventually 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 very 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 paint in nice new colors. Then the boat was loaded with all kinds of interesting books to read. Now this row-boat has an important new use as it helps to bring closer to the thoughts of others through reading. Would you say that our new row-boat once again looks happy?
Enjoy our boat load of books – and don’t forget to check them out by Mrs. Cabrera!
Many thanks to Ms. Carela for this write-up in Learning in Tenafly :