Children’s author Sherri Duskey Rinker asks questions to Indian Creek Elementary School students during a special presentation April 23. Rinker’s visit, and copies of her new book for every student, were part of the Read Grow Fly initiative aiming to increase a love of reading in county schools. RYAN TRARES | DAILY JOURNAL
Red Grow Fly
What: An initiative raising money to fund author visits and book purchases for students at schools throughout Johnson County.
Who: Founded by Tiffany Phillips, owner of Wild Geese Bookshop.
How to help: Donations can be made through the Johnson County Community Foundation at http://www.jccf.org/read-grow-fly-fund
The children sat still in their seats, eyes glued to the dynamic figure up on stage.
About 400 Indian Creek Elementary students in kindergarten through second grade had come for a special visit by children’s author Sherri Duskey Rinker.
As Rinker stood on the stage at the Indian Creek Performing Arts Center, she regaled the kids with her background, her family and her love of books. She told sweet stories about her own sons and how their reading habits led her to publish her first books.
The students were silent, hanging on the author’s every word. Until a string of jokes had the room exploding in laughter.
“Having Sherri Duskey Rinker visit meant a lot to our school community. The kids were completely engaged and her energy and storytelling really brought the experience to life for them,” said Eric Long, principal at Indian Creek Elementary. “We are so thankful to Sherri, Wild Geese Bookshop, and Read Grow Fly for making it all possible. It is not every day students get to meet an author and connect with a story in that way.”
Rinker’s visit was part of a larger effort in Johnson County known as Read Grow Fly. In a year since it was created, the nonprofit has brought visiting authors to seven Franklin and Indian Creek schools.
More importantly, every child at those events received a free book to take home with them.
“It was magical, because you get to see the kids meet an author and hear her backstory, how she comes up with ideas,” said Tiffany Phillips, owner of Wild Geese Bookshop in Franklin and founder of Read Grow Fly. “And then for them to take that book home and hold it in their hands, I loved it so much.”
Phillips created Read Grow Fly as a way to encourage supporters to donate to a fund set up at the Johnson County Community Foundation, which will be used to purchase books for kids and arrange author visits to county schools. Knowing the power of reading, as well as the research showing the impact having books in a child’s home can have on success, her hope was to foster a love of reading by bringing kids face-to-face with writers and their work.
She was also motivated to ensure equitable access to books throughout the community. Phillips is well-versed in planning special literary activities and bringing authors to town, as she and her events team at Wild Geese Bookshop put together unique book-centric events throughout the year.
They have had a hand in bringing hundreds of bestselling authors to Johnson County, and a number of those events have involved partnering with local schools. Observing those events, Phillips was struck by something that kept happening over and over.
“Whenever an author comes to school and there’s a sales table, or even pre-orders, some kids get the book and some kids don’t,” she said in 2025. “I see teachers reaching into their wallets and pocketbooks to buy that kid who reads a book. I would rather us level the playing field and let everybody get the book.”
Read Grow Fly was launched on April 1, 2025. Phillips opted to set up a fund at the Johnson County Community Foundation to ensure the community trusted that it would be under responsible stewardship. People donate directly to the community foundation, and then Read Grow Fly organizers apply to use those funds for their activities.
As that fund grows, it can be used to fund author visits and purchase books. The effort reached the point where it could plan its first one earlier this fall, and in November, author Max Brallier came to town.
Since its founding, events have been held at Creekside Elementary, Custer Baker Intermediate, Franklin Community High School, Webb Elementary and Union Elementary. In April, Dashka Slater came to Northwood Elementary in Franklin.
“Sometimes, I have students come into the store who met an author, and they talk about that experience, how it’s gotten them reading different things,” Phillips said. “It’s positive all around. I’m so grateful I get to be a small part of it.”
In late April, Read Grow Fly presented its first program outside of the Franklin school district.
At Indian Creek Elementary, media specialist Brandi Hall focuses on a variety of ways to connect students with books, Long said. The school hosts a book fair that gets students excited about choosing their own books, and a book vending machine, used as an incentive to celebrate students on different occasions, offers the opportunity to select a book of their own.
Through the Book Blast program, every student will be going home with at least four books this year, Long said.
The collaboration with Read Grow Fly to bring Rinker to the school only further supported those efforts.
“Experiences like this author visit really reinforce everything we are trying to do. When students are excited about books, it carries over into their learning in a big way,” Long said. “Literacy is so important, and we want to do everything we can to help our students develop a true love for reading.”
On the morning of April 23, Indian Creek Elementary students filed out of their school and into the performing arts center to hear Rinker talk about her new book, “Construction Site Firefight!”
With the firefighter theme, members of the Trafalgar Fire Department came out with one of their engines, as the students posed for photos in front of it and poked their heads inside.
“Since the book centered around fire trucks, having firefighters there and getting to see a real fire truck as students were arriving really brought the story to life,” Long said. “Our students loved interacting with the firefighters, and it added a memorable layer to the entire experience.”
Inside the performing arts center, Rinker talked about her childhood and how she grew up loving books. After she had her sons, she passed a love of reading to them.
Her effort trying to get her youngest son to sleep inspired her first children’s book, “Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site.”
Rinker would go on to write more than 40 books, from “Steam Train, Dream Train” to “12 Sleighs of Christmas.” Talking about the “Revver the Speedway Squirrel” series, she described watching a NASCAR race with her kids and seeing a squirrel scurry across the track.
Later, when her kids brought it up, she formulated an idea for another book.
“I started to think, what is this squirrel’s story?” she said.
In “Construction Site Firefight!” Rinker tells the story of an emergency on the construction site after powerful winds knock over electric lines and start a dangerous fire. New characters such as Fire Engine, Foam Truck, Water Tender, and the rest of the mighty fire crew join forces with the classic Construction Site friends to save the day, according to Rinker’s website.
Though the book wasn’t released until April 28, the Indian Creek students were able to take home their own copy early.
Watching the kids clutch their copies was amazing, Phillips said.
“We’d go on school visits, and only some students would get to take the book home,” she said. “To see all of them get it, and there’s no conversation about who gets it and doesn’t, it felt like I got to see a dream come true, especially for that many kids.”
With the momentum gained over the past year, Phillips is excited to see where Read Grow Fly goes. The nonprofit is still accepting funds through the Johnson County Community Foundation, and donations are much appreciated.
“We’re just getting going. It’s been a year in the works, but we’ve donated over 1,500 books already,” Phillips said.
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