Joliet Author Reads to Plainfield Preschoolers

Submitted by Plainfield School District 202

Photo: Joliet author Amy Logan says goodbye to preschoolers at Bonnie McBeth Learning Center after reading her book “A Girl with a Cape: The True Story about the Superhero in All of Us,” on Wednesday Oct. 21. McBeth was a 46-year member of the Beta Rho Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma International Society, which brought Logan to the school as a tribute to McBeth.

Many schools in District 202 bring authors to speak to students.

But the author who recently spoke at Bonnie McBeth Early Learning Center had a unique connection to the late Bonnie McBeth.

Local author Amy Logan read her book “A Girl with a Cape: The True Story about the Superhero in All of Us” to Bonnie McBeth students on Wednesday, October 21, 2015.

Marge Mostyn, a retired teacher, was Logan’s high school geometry teacher at Providence High School. And Bonnie McBeth was Mostyn’s kindergarten teacher in the early 1950s when McBeth served as District 202’s very first kindergarten teacher.

The Beta Rho Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma International Society brought Logan to the preschool with a grant from the Lambda State Foundation for Educational Studies, Inc.

McBeth also was a 46-year member of the Beta Rho chapter and the chair of the society’s literacy committee.

Trudy Wille, a member of Beta Rho and sister to Marge Mostyn, said the Beta Rho chapter wanted to bring an author to the school named for McBeth because McBeth was a strong literacy advocate.

“We knew that Bonnie would go and read to the children (at the preschool) each year, so we thought this would be a nice tribute to her,” Wille said.

Years later Mostyn reconnected with McBeth through Beta Rho.

“So many times when we go back to our childhood memories of people they become older and change,” Mostyn said.

“What I saw as a kindergartner when I was five years old was the same kind woman that I met 50 years later at Beta Rho,” Mostyn said. “Her gentle spirit, kind eyes and ability to listen more than talk were still very apparent.”

Bonnie McBeth Principal Kristin Brower said it was an honor to have Beta Rho bring Logan to the school.

Logan’s book focuses on the themes of kindness and paying things forward – both of which McBeth championed and lived as well.

The book tells the tale of a little girl whose kindness touches dozens of people even though she doesn’t see it.

For Mostyn, that happened in kindergarten when McBeth allowed Mostyn to play with wood rather than the more gender-traditional toy dishes.

Mostyn said she loved trying to figure out how the pieces fit together, and ultimately grew up to teach math.

McBeth steered Mostyn to play with something she was interested in rather than what she was supposed to play with because she was a girl, Mostyn said.

Mostyn said she applied that philosophy to her own students.

Logan said Mostyn had a huge impact on her in high school.

Mostyn would recognize a student’s birthday by cutting out a paper letter of their first name while describing the student to the class.

Each student would sign the letter and write something kind about the student whose birthday it was, Logan said. Logan kept the letters.

“Those letters were just something nice she did but they had a profound effect on me,” Logan said.

Mostyn saw that kindness in Logan during her presentation and in her book.

“She was bubbly young lady, so the book doesn’t surprise me, it was her,” Mostyn said.