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Students from Mr. Erlendson's class read their stories to students from Trace.

How would one explain small pox, Hepatitis B, Mono, the Mumps, or even an extremophile to a five year old? Simple, in a book! On Wednesday, February 26, a combination of the many biology students of Mr. Erlendson’s classes read their children’s stories of infectious diseases to an audience of hundreds of Trace Elementary School students in the Rose Garden Public Library.

These children all left the library with more knowledge about things like germs, viruses, even parasites. As one of the readers/writers, I felt like the experience was good for both parties, as some of these kids aren’t read to all that often, and this was some of the readers’ first time having younger kids look up to them. The experience also inspired some kids to want to make their own books. Quotes heard at the event included, “Wow! I’ve never had a bigger person read to me before,” and “I wanna make my own book now,” as well as “I don’t know what germs are, but they sound cool!”