Cool Cat Cafe puts spotlight on writing, music

The room stood dark, except for tea-lights glowing from tabletops filling the center.

At those tables - all covered with tiger-print cloths - crowds of students and parents sat wearing berets, painted-on mustaches and goatees, and tuning into the main event at Brooks Elementary in Aurora.

At the Cool Cat Cafe, an annual event at the school, about 65 students had their moment in the spotlight.

The event was the culmination of a three-pronged effort: a writer's workshop, where students in kindergarten through fifth grade work with adult volunteers and peers on their prose throughout the year; a publishing center, where the students' final writing and illustrations are published by parent volunteers in what they call the Cool Cat Press; and the actual Cool Cat Cafe, where many published students read their works, and others perform music.

Lisa Couch, the parent who launched the Cool Cat Press and Cafe last year, said the program is more successful than she initially imagined. So far, students have published about 300 books.

"We're really excited that the kids are so into it," said Couch, who also teaches writing at Waubonsee Community College. "I will never forget when I gave a first-grade girl her first published book and she looked at me like it was the most amazing thing, then said 'I've been waiting for this my whole life.' Her whole 6 years."

The program is run by about 15 parent volunteers, with a grant from the Indian Prairie Education Foundation and funding from the school's PTA. Couch said it aims to dovetail with the district's curriculum and give students even more individual attention.

"Because writing is such an individual activity," she said.

Last Thursday's event featured stories highlighting the rigors of gymnastics, adventures of fictional characters, and even piano or guitar tunes played by students either in the school programs or who take private instruction.

Students like kindergartner Paige Baffes took their moment on stage seriously. As Paige prepared to help read a poem that was written with each class from Brooks contributing a line, her mother, Carrie, offered pointers on how to work the crowd.

Pointing to a highlighted portion of the poem's text, Carrie told Paige, "See there? It's marked so if people laugh, you know it's OK to pause."

Not all writers took the stage, however. Some students, like fourth-grader Sean Jones, love writing and being published but are shy of the stage.

Sean published a book titled, "I Got Right Back Up and Went On," a story about Ronald Reagan. Initially, he said he was unsure about participating in the Cool Cat program. His story took "very long" to publish - about six weeks - and demanded research and revisions. But the payoff was worth it, Sean said, and now he wants to do more.

"When I first got my book I was like, 'Oh my gosh, I just published something,'" Sean said.