Morrison Library recently finished its summer reading program with a special show on Greece presented by Kiki Rouvelas Sherrill, the daughter of Jim and Lisa Rouvelas, Greek immigrants who operate a popular restaurant, J&G Pizza & Steakhouse in Manchester.
Kiki brought a wide range of items to entertain and educate the children, including books, art, CDs of traditional and modern Greek music, and albums of personal photographs.
Morrison Library director Barbara Cornett reported the program averaged around 70 kids for each of the four weeks it was in session. The series began June 6 and ended June 27.
“We have traveled to four different countries,” Cornett said. “We’ve been to Mexico, to Japan, we’ve been to Germany, and we’ve been to Greece today.”
Cornett says she is very pleased with the number of books perused by the children.
“They have checked out almost 500 books,” Cornett said. “And that’s really good.
Since the summer reading program was on learning about other countries this year, Morrison Library volunteer Teresa Austin contacted Kiki and asked her to present the final program on her family’s homeland.
Kiki said she was pleased to show the kids examples of Greek culture and talk about the contributions and effects it has had on modern culture. She taught them to pronounce the Greek alphabet and Greek numbers, talked about Greek mythology and showed them modern children’s books from Greece, which the children found to be much the same as those in the U.S., except for the language.
“I think it’s good for kids to have a general knowledge of other countries, and not necessarily just Greece,” Kiki said. “I think it’s good for them to broaden their horizons, learn what kids do in other countries and how they live their daily lives. Sometimes they find it’s not so much different from their own.”