Ann Bell

When Ann Bell (MA ‘98) got creative and encouraged one of her students to connect with books, she had no idea it would lead to helping kids enjoy reading all around the country.

About six years ago, Bell, a Reading Recovery teacher in the Iowa City Community School District, discovered one of her students was not motivated to read traditional children’s literature.

“What he was really interested in was sports,” Bell said. “He wanted real stories about real athletes.”

Bell decided to write her student a book with pictures to help inspire him to read. With the cooperation of Hawkeye Sports, she used pictures of the Iowa football team to create a book specifically for this student. When Bell brought the book to school, it was a hit with him as well as with his classmates.

“When other students came into my classroom and saw this book, they begged me to help them learn how to read too,” Bell said.

After observing the students’ desire to want to read the sports books, Bell created a nonprofit literacy program called Reading With Our Future Fans (RWOFF). The program, started in 2005, aims to motivate kids to read about their favorite college sports teams all by themselves.

Bell works with Hawkeye Sports and the Iowa Student Athlete Advisory Committee (ISAAC), which took on Bell’s concept as a community service project. They took photos of their lives on and off the field to illustrate the books Bell would write. 
     

Nancy Parker, spokesperson for the ISAAC, said her group saw the importance in Bell’s effort.

“It’s critical that you learn to become a good reader. If there is anything we can do to help motivate kids, we’re all for it,” Parker said.

The program enables children to appreciate the importance of literacy because the athletes they look up to promote reading. The young readers also see parallels between what they need to do to be successful in the classroom and the dedication their athletic heroes show in their own lives.

“The athletes do not simply show up to play their sport; they must work hard toward athletic excellence every day,” Bell said. “There’s a lot that can be learned and transferred from the field to the classroom. Having a book that children can read by themselves—that is their practice.”

Bell said the RWOFF books can serve as a motivational springboard for beginning readers.

“Once they see the books and want to read them, then they realize, ` Hey, I can do this!’ From there, the kids begin to see, `I can read lots of books.’ It simply catapults them,” she said.

The organization’s website, www.RWOFF.org, now features dozens of titles spanning 21 Hawkeye athletic teams. She’s also expanded to partner with Iowa State University and the University of Michigan to create books geared toward those schools’ fans. Together with volunteers, including Summer Meyer (BA ‘01) and Christi Youngquist, she’s working with the NCAA to continue to grow and incorporate more universities.

Through help from charitable donations, Bell’s group has distributed more than 1,750 paper books to eastern and central Iowa schools and reading programs, the Ronald McDonald House, Chicago schools, the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital, libraries, and United Way organizations including Big Brothers Big Sisters.

“Reading With Our Future Fans is an opportunity for universities, athletic departments, and communities to rally around kids by providing them motivational books to read,” Bell said, adding that she’s received great feedback from teachers and students.

One student sent her a note that she said sums up RWOFF’s mission: “Thank you for writing this book. It’s really good and I like to read now.”