Donors Provide Copy of Sassy’s Vacation to Each Westview 1st Grader

Donor Opportunity: Only 60 more needed for next year’s class!

Thanks to some very generous donors, every first grader at Westview Elementary School in Platteville will receive a copy of the children’s book Sassy’s Vacation by Sue Leamy Kies and illustrated by Ric Genthe. Much appreciation goes out to donors Larry and Mary McGinley, Bob and Joan Just, Dawson and Marie Trine, John and Ellen Urness, Tom and Pat Jonas, along with the Platteville Optimist’s Club and two other anonymous donors.

Brooke Brockman and other first grade teachers at Westview will be incorporating the book about this feisty snapping turtle into a unit about the trail this spring. That unit will also include a visit to the trail to study the native vegetation of the area. This will be the first graders’ second trip to the trail this year, as they also visited last fall. Brockman, an avid user and lover of the trail, uses these opportunities to teach students about nature, ecology and community.

On February 24th, Sue Leamy Kies will be talking to all students at Westview about collaborating with artist Ric Genthe in creating the book. Sue, a retired PHS English teacher, will also discuss storytelling and how she came to be an author.

What a wonderful investment in our local youth. Thank you again to the donors for helping to educate our young people in the importance of literacy and about our precious area resource—the David Canny Rountree Branch Trail!

Only 60 more books are needed to make sure next year’s first graders also get this extraordinary opportunity. If you or someone you know would like to get the special donor price of $8 per book on 25 or more copies, please contact Gene Weber (email: geneweber4@gmail.com).

If you have not purchased your own personal copy of the book, you may do so for $10 at three locations: The Driftless Market (95 W Main Street), The Platteville Regional Chamber Office (Business Highway 151), or Bob Hundhausen’s Office (2 Insight Drive, Suite B).