Corduroy Goes to College: Confessions of a 20-Year-Old Children’s Literature Expert
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By Hannah Nyren

I may be twenty years old, but I’m an early childhood development expert. I work with more children than the average pediatrician, and I’ve annotated more children’s books in the past year than you read when you were four.

Whether I’m at school, home, or even at work (especially at work), I almost always have a thirty-page monosyllabic, multicolored text on hand. Instead of going out to frat parties, I spend the occasional Friday night in the children’s section of the library, furiously scribbling notes or flipping through the titles, looking for something about animals or rainbows or friends.

Sure, I loved to read books as a kid, but this isn’t just a habit I never shook. It’s actually my college work-study job. I get paid to read children’s books. I also get paid to make scrapbooks, visit the children’s museum, and draw giant pictures of frogs (and toads). Best of all, I get to spend time with some of my favorite people -- preschoolers.

But I’m not just a guinea pig for early childhood materials; I’m an AmeriCorps member. I work with Jumpstart, a nonprofit organization in the AmeriCorps network dedicated to ensuring that “every child in America enters school prepared to succeed.” To fulfill this goal, Jumpstart trains college students and community volunteers to tutor and mentor children in lower income preschools.

I joined Jumpstart my freshman year of college, hoping to get something out of a work-study job a little more fulfilling than paper cuts. When I came across the Jumpstart booth at my school’s job fair, I knew I had to join.

A smiling girl in a bright red t-shirt waved me over and gushed about the program. The tri-fold display board shimmered with photos of college students and preschoolers working together in harmony: playing games, reading books, and making finger puppets.

It looked and sounded so fun that I was a little skeptical at first. I could get paid to play with little kids and paint pictures? This had to be a joke!

Yet, I soon learned to take Jumpstart very, very seriously. I studied for “Small Group Story Time” more than for my Philosophy final, spent hours making song charts, and even pulled an all-nighter to finish a scrapbook (twice).

But sprinkled amongst these tasks were books, books, and more books. Not text books, or self-help books, or even comic books but giant piles of preschool books. Books under my bed, books in my dresser, on my desk, in my bag, under my laptop, in my bathroom, everywhere! I had so many books that I could have written a book about my prodigious supply of books. And of course, I read all these books. Twice.

Last year, I read at least two books twice a week. And when I say read, I mean read, read again, took some notes, made some interactive materials, and then read some more. Not only did I have to read the assigned weekly core story to my preschooler twice, but I also had to read a “Small Group Story Time” book twice. This double duty meant that I spent four hours a week studying preschool books!

Although it sounds unbelievable, I am a twenty-year-old early childhood reading expert. So, believe methat I can recite “Goodnight Moon” backwards.
Believe me that all my library fines are from the children’s section.
And believe me when I tell you which books to read to your kids and which to bury in your backyard.

Hannah Nyren
Lexington Family Magazine Intern