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Literacy with laughs
By christine keeling
austintown
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Jim Hixson reads while his brother, Jon, dresses as a squirrel to bring to life a children’s book. The J.J. Brothers visited the Lloyd Elementary School in Austintown Wednesday.
Akron authors captivated a young audience with hi-jinks and humor.
The auditorium at Lloyd Elementary was filled with laughter Wednesday as kindergarten-through-third-grade students learned the joys of reading and writing during a performance by Jon and Jim Hixson of J.J. Brothers.
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Students from kindergarten through third grade at Lloyd Elementary School in Austintown enjoy a visit from the J.J. Brothers, authors from Akron who travel to schools to promote reading and writing.
The Hixsons travel to schools throughout the area and use scenes from stories to promote literacy and imagination. They, with their brother Joe Susick, have authored “Dog Collars,” “The Adventures of Caterpillar Jones” and “Caterpillar Jones and the Adventures of Nut E. Squirrel.”
“It was the funniest program in the school, ever,” said 6-year-old Hunter Barnett. His classmate, Devon Kimble, 6, said he liked when Jon dressed up like a ghost.
The brothers told students to use imagination and to make up their own pictures for books.
Jim would read excerpts of stories, such as “A Christmas Carol,” while Jon dressed up in costume and acted out the role.
The children giggled as he appeared as a squirrel, ghost and woman.
“We try to be as funny as we can but still get the message across,” said Jon. “We love to hear kids laugh.”
Nouns and verbs are important to sentence structure and writing in a journal is an important way to remember story ideas, the brothers told students.
“Really, anytime we can instill reading and writing skills at this level, we like to do it,” said Thomas Lenton, the school’s principal.
The brothers will be releasing their fourth book, “The Bully Shark,” early next year. It is an underwater adventure that they hope teaches children about bullying behavior.