Jordanian queen holds court with students at Naperville school
Students at Highlands Elementary School in Naperville got to meet a queen Friday.
No, not someone out of a storybook or a Disney movie. A real one.
Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan visited the school with an entourage of assistants and bodyguards to read from "The Sandwich Swap," a children's book she wrote about sharing, diversity and understanding.
After the reading, she fielded a question from one of the students.
"Do you have any pets?" the student asked.
"Yes," the queen replied, "can you guess what they are?"
After several errant tries, she gave them a hint.
"Yeowoooo!" she howled, in her most queen-like way.
"Wolves!" the students shouted.
The queen told the students she has two wolves who just became the proud parents of four little wolves.
"But they're very nice," she said.
Fourth-grade art students, including Sofia Swanson, created a large mural in advance of their guest's appearance and greeted Queen Rania when she arrived.
Sofia was asked what she thought it would be like to be a queen.
"I think being a queen would be kind of fun because you could live in a really nice house or maybe a castle and you'll be rich!" she said.
Sofia and the other art students presented the queen with gifts they made in art class, including a pin and pen made from sculpty dough, and a medallion made from fused glass.
The queen's visit was sponsored by Naperville Unit District 203 and Anderson's Bookshop in Naperville. Principal Susan Stuckey said Highlands was selected to host the visit because of its diversity; roughly 18 percent of the school's students are Asian or Pacific Islanders.
The queen made only two stops in Illinois and Highlands was in pretty good company - the other was on "Oprah."
Her Majesty Queen Rania is next headed to New York City for an appearance and then back to Jordan.
The students presented her with books and essays and she promised she would read them on the plane and then share them with her own four children.