TOPPENISH, Wash.- A hamster from a children’s book written by Elementary School students in Richland is now a learning ambassador for Yakima Valley children.
Houdini Was is the story of a classroom pet hamster written by a second-grade class at White Bluffs Elementary in 2010 that won first place in the Scholastic National Challenge.
Yakima Valley Partners for Education (YVPE) are now bringing Houdini to children as a learning ambassador thanks to some Heritage University benefactors.
Ken and Sharon Smith of Yakima became interested in YVPE’s literacy efforts and purchased the publishing rights to Houdini Was, had 500 copies printed, and are now making the book available to schools and organizations in the Yakima Valley according to a press release from Heritage.
Houdini the hamster will now be a learning ambassador for students at such organizations as the Heritage University Early Learning Center, Educational Service District 105, the Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic and the United Family Center.
On June 15 Christan Conners, teacher of the class that wrote the book and one of her students from that year, Lily Ferguson, read Houdini Was to children at the Heritage University Early Learning Center. Afterwards, Houdini, a costumed mascot, appeared and posed for pictures with the children.
