Apr 23, 2008 3:05 pm US/Eastern
First Lady, Daughter Sign Book In New Jersey
GLEN ROCK, N.J. (AP) ―
First lady Laura Bush and her daughter Jenna cheerfully signed about 800 copies of their book Wednesday at a small bookstore in North Jersey.
The book signing was the first for their new children's book, "Read All About It!", based on their experiences as third-grade teachers. The story follows a rambunctious student, Tyrone, who is skeptical about reading until the stories come to life for him.
"Parts of the story really happened in some of my classes," the first lady said. "My first year teaching in Dallas, the kids would act like the characters were alive."
Jenna Bush, 26, said the main character was based on some of the overactive boys she taught at a low-income charter school in Washington, D.C.
"In my first year, I was always telling them, 'Please get off the floor!"' she said. "But that's how boys learn, by moving around."
The two former teachers were upbeat and engaging with the many wide-eyed children who waited hours in the 80-degree sun with their parents to say hello.
"You look so adorable!" Jenna Bush told third-grader Griffin Merriman, 8, dressed in a shirt and tie he had picked out the night before. "I taught third grade -- it was awesome!"
Formerly a public school teacher and librarian, Laura Bush has championed literacy programs in the United States and abroad as first lady.
A portion of the proceeds from the book will be donated to Teach for America and The New Teacher Project, two nonprofit organizations that recruit public school teachers.
Melissa Griegel, who works at Books Bytes & Beyond, said the children's bookstore had sold out of the roughly 800 pre-ordered books that were signed Wednesday.
The first of the hundreds was Robyn Caruso of Verona, who woke at 6:30 a.m. to line up for a chance to introduce her nine-month old son Nicholas to the first lady.
"But that's when you're up anyway, isn't it?" Caruso said to her baby. "Wasn't that a big moment for you?
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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