As a youngster, Luke Maw struggled with his reading.
But the Lakehead Thunderwolves captain kept at it and developed a love of books, especially Dr. Seuss. On Wednesday he shared his enthusiasm for the written word at Westmount Public School, reading Green Eggs and Ham to a kindergarten class to celebrate Family Literacy Day.
It was pretty cool to be able to give back, Maw said.
“It’s good to see everybody getting excited about literacy, especially since it’s such a big part of our Ontario curriculum,” said the 25-year-old defenceman, in his final season with the Thunderwolves.
Maw said reading wasn’t easy for him in his earliest days in school.
“When I was a kid, probably in Grade 2 or Grade 3 and into Grade 4, I really had to work on it. I give a lot to my mom on that one,” Maw said. “My mom’s a teacher and what she did for me was to find things that I was interested and gave me things to read about that I was interested in.”
Teammate Justin McDonald, one of three goaltenders on the Thunderwolves, also read Dr. Seuss to the class he visited, starting with the classic A Great Day for Up.
It was a blast, he said – not to mention an important way to inspire reading.
“I think not only the kids get something out it, but we do too,” McDonald said. “It’s good for us to be out in the community to support them. They come out to support our games, so it’s good to give back to them.”
McDonald sheepishly admitted he’s not a huge reader, at least not of literature.
“Me being in engineering, I’m more kind of the formulas and math kind of guy, but I do enjoy reading books. I think it’s important. Literature is a big part of being people, being able to read and communicate properly and I think it’s important for everyone to keep up with literature.”
Eight-year-old Ashlin Durant said she loves to read.
“There’s so much information and you get to learn a lot of stuff,” she said, delighted to share her love of books with a few hockey players, adding she loves to read anything by author and illustrator Nancy Tillman.
“A lot of the kids in my class are big Thunderwolves fans and I bet that would be a great opportunity for them because maybe they like to read stuff that their favourite players like to read.”
Grade 2 and 3 teacher Kerrie Etienne said her students always react to having special guests like hockey players reading to the m in the classroom.
“Family Literacy Day is important and children need to know that we never stop reading. Athletes are a great example, going to university and doing extra-curricular as a hockey team and yet still have time for reading. We want the children to understand we always foster the love of reading,” Etienne said.
Thunderwolves players visited several schools throughout the day.
