William is going Green

JENNIFER DUVAL Article Last Updated: 08/20/2008 12:43:16 AM EDT
Click photo to enlarge Author James Martin II talks to early learning students at ABCD… (Ned Gerard/Staff photographer )

BRIDGEPORT – He may not have always worn a halo around his head. But after James Martin II, author of the children’s book “William is Going Green,” made a rather large environmental boo-boo by cutting down trees at the site of his Greenwich home, he said he has repented, and then some.

Martin and his wife, Michelle, as well as their three children – 5-year-old co-author James Martin III, Fallon, and Blake – recently traveled to schools in the tri-state area giving readings of Martin’s first published book, “William is Going Green.”

“We’re on the road going green as a family,” said Michelle Martin.

One stop was at Action for Bridgeport Community Development, an early learning center for underprivileged children. Michelle Martin, a former preschool teacher, did the reading, while James Martin ran the projector and finished with a question-and-answer session, which focused on what the children could do to help the environment.

“Mr. Martin wasn’t so green before,” Martin told the children. “I cut down trees on my property and that was a no-no. I didn’t realize how bad of a thing I did. I believe you guys are going to be the ones that make a big difference, that’s why I’m here to share what I know with you.”

Martin, who said he was baffled at first by the commotion over the tree cutting, began researching environmental issues in an attempt to understand his mistake.

“I realized how much I had affected the environment,” he said. “I realized it

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was a problem, so once I replanted the trees, I wanted to teach others what I had learned. I chose children because if they can learn from birth where the bottles go – they go in the blue bin – then it will be part of them; it will get under their skin.”Martin ended the presentation by offering each child a copy of his book. The children gathered around him, tugging on his pants legs and patting him on the shoulder as they told him their favorite parts of the book.

“My favorite part,” said 4-year-old Alexander Nason, “was when he rode to get the garbage and he was stinky, but then he was happy because he wasn’t stinky anymore.”

Diane Wyckoff, ABCD librarian, said the children are frequently exposed to environmental information.

“The teachers,” she said, “read about it, and oftentimes we concentrate on it for about a week or two at a time. There are 11 classrooms at this facility alone, so the children are getting a good dose of how to take care of their environment.”

Even if the classrooms aren’t covering environmental material, Wyckoff, who doubles as a grant writer, works to keep the arts programming well funded. Acquired grant money is used to schedule performers like Martin and Patty Carver, the playwright in residence at the Connecticut Children’s Theatre.

“When I first came here,” said Wyckoff, “I saw a need. These children don’t get regular exposure to outside performances of arts and theatre. I found people and contracted with them to create this program, and I’m always looking for donations.” “Mother Nature’s Quest,” a one-woman monthly show that uses modified children’s songs to teach children about the environment, is performed by Carver at eight separate ABCD facilities.

“It’s one I wrote about eight years ago,” said Carver. “You know, eight to 10 years ago we were doing the best we could recycling and such, but now everyone is going green. It’s very popular, and I hope it stays in vogue for many years to come.”

Carver said ABCD is one of her favorite places to perform because she has felt very welcomed there.

“I’ve had a wonderful time at all of the sites,” she said. “When you walk into an audience of 3- and 4-year-olds, and across the board, they are just so well behaved and so participatory, it is really unique.”

According to Carver, not all of the material in her show is age appropriate, particularly her explanation of chlorofluorocarbons, but she said if she can get through to the kids in any way, she’s made an important difference.

“It’s that one little thing – if just one little thing sticks – if they can just turn off the water when they brush their teeth, it makes a difference,” she said.