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Pedagogical Project

"The Joy of Reading"

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Dear Readers,

We would like to invite you to take part in a new project called "From Stories to Books".

The Stories for Everyone Team have been, for some time, gathering and selecting books that provide some sort of reflection on the fundamental ethical principles of

our society, such as solidarity, courage, honesty, respect for differences and a sense of justice, matters that have deserved the attention of writers from various

nationalities.

Therefore, the Stories for Everyone Team proposes to send, together with the usual weekly stories,and also free of charge, full texts of selected books.

In case you are interested in receiving each week, by email, a chapter of an extensive reading book, all you have to do is send an email to

books@storiesforeveryone.com or stories4ev@gmail.com by writing the following sentence in the subject field:

"Yes, I am interested in participating in the project From Stories to Books."

Hoping that this new proposal will meet your utmost interest, we look forward to your reply.

The Stories for Everyone Team

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This week's stories with PDF attachments:

- ROSA

- Four small corners

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ROSA

Mrs. Parks was having a good day. Mother was getting over that touch of flu and was up this morning for breakfast at the table. Her husband, Raymond Parks, one of the best barbers in the county, had been asked to take on extra work at the air force base. And the first day of December was always special because you could just feel Christmas in the air.

Everybody knew the alterations department would soon be very, very busy. Mrs. Parks would laugh each year with the other seamstresses and say that "those elves in the North Pole have nothing on us!"

The women of Montgomery, both young and older, would come in with their fancy holiday dresses that needed adjustments or their Sunday suits and blouses that needed just a touch—a flower or some velvet trimming or something to make the ladies look festive.

Rosa Parks was the best seamstress. The needle and thread flew through her hands like the gold spinning from Rumpelstiltskin´s loom. The other seamstresses would tease Rosa Parks and say she used magic. Rosa would laugh. "Not magic. Just concentration," she would say. Some days she would skip lunch to be finished on time.

This Thursday they had gotten a bit ahead of their schedule. "Why don´t you go on home, Rosa," said the supervisor. "I know your mother is feeling poorly, and you might want to look in on her."

The supervisor knew Rosa would stay until the work was done, but it was only December 1. No need to push. Rosa appreciated that. Now she could get home early, and since Raymond would be working late, maybe she would surprise him with a meat loaf, his favorite.

"See you in the morning." Rosa waved good-bye and headed for the bus stop. She fiddled in her pocket for the dime so that she would not have to ask for change. When she stepped up to drop her fare in, she was smiling in anticipation of the nice dinner she would make. As was the evil custom, she then got off the bus and went to the back door to enter the bus from the rear.

Rosa saw that the section reserved for blacks was full, but she noticed the neutral section, the part of the bus where blacks or whites could sit, had free seats.

The left side of the aisle had two seats and on the right side a man was sitting next to the window. Rosa decided to sit next to him. She did not remember his name, but she knew his face. His son, Jimmy, came frequently to the NAACP Youth Council affairs. They exchanged pleasantries as the bus pulled away from the curb.

Rosa settled her sewing bag and her purse near her knees, trying not to crowd Jimmy´s father. Men take up more space, she was thinking as she tried to squish her packages closer. The bus made several more stops, and the two seats opposite her were filled by blacks. She sat on her side of the aisle daydreaming about her good day and planning her special meal for her husband.

"I said give me those seats!" the bus driver bellowed. Mrs. Parks looked up in surprise. The two men on the opposite side of the aisle were rising to move into the crowded black section. Jimmy´s father muttered, more to himself than anyone else, "I don´t feel like trouble today. I´m gonna move."

Mrs. Parks stood to let him out, looked at James Blake, the bus driver, and then sat back down.

"You better make it easy on yourself!" Blake yelled.

"Why do you pick on us?" Mrs. Parks asked with that quiet strength of hers.

"I´m going to call the police!" Blake threatened.

"Do what you must," Mrs. Parks quietly replied. She was not frightened. She was not going to give in to that which was wrong.

Some of the white people were saying aloud, "She ought to be arrested," and "Take her off this bus." Some of the black people, recognizing the potential for ugliness, got off the bus. Others stayed on, saying among themselves, "That is the neutral section. She has a right to be there."

Mrs. Parks sat.

As Mrs. Parks sat waiting for the police to come, she thought of all the brave men and women, boys and girls who stood tall for civil rights. She recited in her mind the 1954 Brown versus Board of Education decision, in which the United States Supreme Court ruled that separate is "inherently unequal."

She sighed as she realized she was tired. Not tired from work but tired of putting white people first. Tired of stepping off sidewalks to let white people pass, tired of eating at separate lunch counters and learning at separate schools.

She was tired of "Colored" entrances, "Colored" balconies, "Colored" drinking fountains, and "Colored" taxis. She was tired of getting somewhere first and being waited on last. Tired of "separate," and definitely tired of "not equal."

She thought about her mother and her grandmother and knew they would want her to be strong. She had not sought this moment, but she was ready for it.

When the policeman bent down to ask "Auntie, are you going to move?" all the strength of all the people through all those many years joined in her. Rosa Parks said no.

Jo Ann Robinson was at the Piggly Wiggly when she learned of the arrest. She had stopped in to purchase a box of macaroni and cheese. She always served macaroni and cheese when she baked red snapper for dinner. A sister member of the Women´s Political Council approached her just as she reached the checkout lane.

"Not Mrs. Parks!" Mrs. Robinson exclaimed. She then looked furtively around. "Pass the word that everybody should meet me at my office at ten o´clock tonight," she said.

…

(To be continued in the PDF attachment)

Nikki Giovanni; Bryan Collier

Rosa

New York, Square Fish, 2008

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Four small corners

Square is playing with its friends.

Suddenly, the bell rings. It´s time to go into the big house.

But Square cannot get inside, because it isn´t as round as the door.

Square feels so sad…

It would love to go into the big house.

So it decides to stretch itself, to bend itself,

fold itself, get upside down… Still, it can´t go inside.

"Be round," the Circles advise it. And Square tries to become round like them.

…

(To be continued in the PDF attachment)

Four small corners

Jerôme Ruillier

(Translated from the Spanish)

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You can visit us on Facebook where you can find more interesting stories about several different topics.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stories-for-Everyone/125862557478585

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Sir/Madam,

We are a group of people with some experience in the area of storytelling and we would like to share our project – The Joy of Reading – with everyone who is in touch with children and young people in general but above all with everyone that enjoys reading.

This project consists of sending stories for free on a weekly basis. So this particular e-mail and the ones that will follow it in the next weeks are intended to share some small stories with you. All the stories we send have some values within: respect for nature, tolerance, tenderness, responsibility, solidarity and many more. They all aim at developing the reading skills among young people, as well as allowing some moments of reflection and dialogue about topics connected with human values, which seem to have been somewhat forgotten in these times of materialism and hedonism.

We thank you for your attention and hope you will welcome this project (which, it is important to say, does not have any profitable aims).

If you know anyone interested in receiving the weekly stories by email, let us know by sending their emails to us.

Please let us know your opinion about the project.

Yours faithfully

The Pedagogical Team

sg@storiesforeveryone.com

stories4ev@gmail.com