DaytonDailyNews.com

SPRINGBORO — Elementary school teachers strive to teach children many lessons.

One of the basic cornerstones is instilling a love for reading. Also, a great emphasis is placed on how to treat others.

The Springboro Rotary Club delivered a one-two lesson punch on June 1. More than 400 second-graders in total at Dennis Elementary and Five Points Elementary in Springboro received "Andy & Elmer's Apple Dumpling Adventure," a hard-bound picture book written and illustrated by Andrew J. Shoup of Kettering.

The story includes a lesson about Rotary Club International's four-way test: Is it the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill and better friendships? Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

Rotary charter club member Kirk Tyson, Sergeant in Arms Mike Hemmert and first vice-president Todd Dewett created lots of early morning excitement on their first stop at Dennis West after an introduction by principal Sandra Wray.

The well-mannered students sat cross-legged on the floor surrounded by their teachers: Laura Earles, Angela Gudz, Jason Bromberg, Julie Krueckeberg and Donna Miller. They all yelled "Yeah!" when Dewett asked them if they wanted to see what was behind his back.

"This is just wonderful; anything to get the kids excited about reading," said Miller. "We've been talking a lot about authors. And to find out that it was a local author, I think that was exciting, too."

The Springboro Rotary Club passed out dictionaries to all Springboro third-graders earlier in the school year. So the second-graders were ready to feel special this time around. The book program was started by the Fairborn Rotary Club and includes a recipe for Andy's Apple Dumplings in the back.

"It sounds cliche, but the kids are our future," said Dewett. "For me, in terms of service projects, the most enjoyable ones are for the kids. So passing out dictionaries and books is always fun and rewarding."

The Springboro Rotary Club was chartered in September of 2003. The club strives to develop programming and put a lot of effort into Springboro youth. Besides the dictionary and book programs, they offer scholarships for the high school students. They also built the concession stand at North Park.

There is one second-grader who is especially enthused about the Rotary's book program. Seth Oakes is a student in Angela Gudz's class.

"It's very exciting. I like the pictures and the stories in there," said Oakes. "I've got most of it down; in two minutes I'm probably going to finish it."

Contact this reporter at (937) 748-3487 or PamDillon@woh.rr.com.