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Schools

Reading, Writing and New Jersey: Award-Winning Author Visits Rush School

Beloved New Jersey author Lisa Funari-Willever visits Eleanor Rush school and puts a new spin on reading, writing and the wonders of New Jersey.

Lisa Funari-Willever’s Nicky Fifth series starts out with the same bum rap New Jersey seems to get in popular culture: a character who absolutely doesn’t want to move to the Garden State.

But as Nicky Fifth and friend T-Bone move around New Jersey exploring, they—and the readers—get an inside look at the wonders of the state.

Thanks to a visit from Funari-Willever, students were able to share in the adventures.

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A grant from the Cinnaminson Education Foundation (CEF) allowed Erin Zarzycki, a fourth-grade teacher, to bring award-winning author Funari-Willever to Eleanor Rush.

Deborah Banecker, principal of Rush School, was thrilled that the teachers and students were awarded this grant.

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“I am grateful to the CEF for offering grants to provide programs for our school that enrich our curriculum,” Banecker says. “Since fourth-graders study New Jersey, Mrs. Zarzycki wanted to help bring alive the history and places of interest in our state by a New Jersey author.”

Zarzycki, who taught at New Albany School for several years, transferred to Rush this past year and wanted to bring something with her.

“I decided I wanted to bring something to the table for my new team as I knew I would be leaning on them a lot this year,” the educator explained.

Along with Jenna Gordon, another new teacher at Rush, Zarzycki applied for the grant after learning about Funari-Willever’s Nicky Fifth series.

“I jumped on it after I saw Lisa on NJN giving a workshop to NJ students and thought what a great idea! Lisa’s books (in this series) allow the children to connect with a child their age going through an unwanted move to New Jersey.”

Novel New Jersey

Readers follow Nicky around New Jersey on his adventures, track his travels on a map, and can even get their own books stamped at various locations they visit.

“Our students’ faces light up when they have been somewhere that Nicky has gone,” Zarzycki added.

The books in the Nicky Fifth series complement topics covered in fourth-grade social studies, and the author has discovered many districts using the books to supplement classroom lessons.

“Schools are teaching social studies through literature,” Funari-Willever said.

Combining humor, personal experience, history and facts about New Jersey, Funari-Willever’s has penned 18 books. She has won numerous awards, including the esteemed Benjamin Franklin Award for A Glove of Their Own. Former first lady Laura Bush picked Funari-Willever’s Chumpkin as one of her favorite children’s books and displayed it at the White House. Main characters Nicky Fifth and T-Bone are about to be named Official Junior Ambassadors to the state of New Jersey, and Everybody Moos at Cows was dubbed a “great new kids book" by Rosie O’Donnell.

A Jersey childhood, memorialized in books

Funari-Willever amused students at Eleanor Rush as she spoke about her childhood in New Jersey. Everyone Moos at Cows was inspired by Sunday drives to look at cows with her family when she was a child. Rush students belly-laughed as she described her little brother’s antics while feeding geese on their weekly jaunts to moo at cows. She spoke about the Jersey shore, Burlington Island and Trenton and mentioned how her characters visit Carlo's Bakery in Hoboken—the bakery made famous by Cake Boss.

She encouraged budding writers to “look in the right places for ideas.” She gave them tangible tools to use while writing and shared her own writing process with the students.

Fourth-grader Lauren deemed the presentation fun and informative.

“I really liked it and I learned a lot of things that can help me with my writing,” she said.

Funari-Willever entertained students and staff and provided innovative ways to encourage reading, writing and learning about the Garden State. She gave life to the stories students have been reading in the classroom and made writing exciting for Rush’s fourth graders while giving tips from her book, Exciting Writing.

Teachers, parents and students who want to learn more can visit the Nicky Fifth website where reading, writing and New Jersey come alive. Explore with Nicky and learn about New Jersey.

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