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WILKES-BARRE — Who wrote which parts of the new children’s book touting the SHINE after-school program?
“I wrote all the periods,” U.S. Rep Lou Barletta quipped with his usual toothy grin Thursday at a signing where he was joined by co-authors State Sen. John Yudichak and Miss Keystone Caroline Jones.
The three sat and signed books for 40 students from the SHINE class at Heights Murray Elementary School during the event at the Barnes & Noble store on South Main Street, then took turns reading the book and shook hands with the students, each of whom received a bag with a signed copy of the book and a $10 gift certificate to Barnes & Noble.
The youngsters were certainly attentive during the reading and polite during the handshaking — Josiah Davis, 7, offered a grin to rival Barletta’s. But the real draw was a chance to ice and decorate their own cookies after the hoopla.
The book, “We Saved the Bees and Butterflies,” tells the story of two SHINE students, Liam and Rosie, who notice an absence of bees and butterflies in a flower garden. They ask their SHINE teacher, Mrs. Smith, for an explanation, and she does what they do in real SHINE classrooms, getting the youngsters to do their own online research.
They discover the loss of natural habitat has caused the declining population, and with the help of (fictitious) Wilkes University botany professor Lisa Honychurch and all their fellow shine students, they plant flora to bring the pollinators back.
Yudichak, D-Nanticoke, and Barletta, R-Hazleton, were instrumental in bringing SHINE to Luzerne County in 2015. Jones recounted her time working as an intern with Yudichak while studying at King’s, and said the idea to do something about Shine started back then.
“The only time we tell the story of SHINE is in a press release,” Yudichak said. “This is a way to get something into the classrooms.” The Yudichak Family Lighthouse Fund of the Luzerne Foundation published the book and bought the first 50 copies for SHINE students. All proceeds go to SHINE
Barletta conceded the book signing was bittersweet. He lost a bid to unseat U.S. Sen. Bob Casey in November and will be leaving the job shortly. “What a way to finish my time in public office, to be with something that probably means more than anything else in my eight years,” he told the crowd.
Barletta regularly fought against proposed cuts to a federal grant program that has been important to maintaining SHINE, which operates under the auspices of Wilkes-University. He has often displayed a bright smile and an easy connection with children at SHINE events, and Thursday was no exception.
Crouching next to Jennifer Martinez and Shirley Saico, he asked if he could have one of the mini-marshmallows accompanying the ice-it-yourself cookies, queried about their favorite part of the class, and laughed when Saico said they made a gingerbread house, then ate it.
And Josiah? He piled icing an inch high on his cookie, made a blizzard out of the sprinkles, and barely hesitated when SHINE Executive Director Carol Nicholas said the marshmallows were coming and suggested “You can eat your cookie, wait for the marshmallows or get an extra cookie.”
Replied Josiah: “I’m going to eat my cookie.”
