Ga. First Lady Reads ‘Library Mouse’ to Bolton Academy 3rd Graders

Third graders at Bolton Academy received a special visitor on August 20: Georgia First Lady Sandra Deal.

“We’re happy that she supports our initiatives as it relates to early literacy and we’re excited to hear what she decides to read to our students,” said Principal Anita Lawrence, as she and staff prepared the school’s media center for Deal’s Monday morning arrival.

Deal arrived with a handful of books and enlisted input from Bolton Academy’s media center specialist Reva Holsey before selecting Library Mouse, a book written and illustrated by Daniel Kirk that encourages children to read and to write their own stories.

A former language arts teacher, Deal has read to students in all of Georgia’s 159 counties and 181 school districts. Bolton Academy is one of several Atlanta Metropolitan area schools she has visited this academic year.

“I just wanted to come to some of the schools I hadn’t been to read to some of the children and encourage them to want to learn to read and to learn different things about reading,” Deal said. “This is the third grade and so we read about the importance of writing because after you learn to read you get to learn to write. I was encouraging them today to read and to write. That’s what makes great learners.”

Bolton Academy Principal Anita Lawrence with Georgia First Lady Sandra Deal