Recently, British actor Idris Elba read us a bedtime story in his role as Project Literacy Ambassador for International Literacy Day 2017. The story he read was another take on the classic children’s tale, Chicken Little.
‘Pong-Pong The Brave’ was written by a dedicated mother, Wanda Steward, from Philadelphia, USA, for her children.
The story behind how and why Wanda rewrote Chicken Little will touch your heart, and hopefully spark your interest in supporting any local literacy projects near you.
Wanda Stewart grew up unable to read but was determined to not let her illiteracy to stand in the way of spending quality time with her children.
Despite finding it difficult to read the words on the page, Wanda allowed her imagination to read the illustrations instead. She would sit with her children at night and create her own stories to follow the pictures in their books.
‘Pong-Pong The Brave’ was a story she made up while following the pictures of the children’s classic ‘Chicken Little’, and it has now been published in honour of International Literacy Day.
Wanda says:
“They say you only live once,” Steward said. “That was one of the things I wanted to learn, how to read. I went back to school.
“I can read little words, bigger words I have problems with. I feel proud of myself: I came a long way!”
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