SPRINGFIELD — Springfield Police Commissioner Cheryl Clapprood visited White Street School today where she read “Kacey, a Bee and a Tree,” a children’s book she recently authored, to a kindergarten class and met the elementary students who created the illustrations for the book.
Video of the book reading can be found on the Springfield Police Department’s Facebook page here.
Coverage by 22 News (WWLP) can also be found here.
The Commissioner read the book to the kindergarten students and showed them the pictures drawn by the students at their school.
The story is about the Springfield Police Department’s emotional support dog Kacey and her adventures with the Commissioner’s staff around Halloween last year. Overall, the lesson of the story is to not laugh at or make fun of others.
The full book with illustrations can be found here.
Following the reading, Commissioner Clapprood met the second, third and fifth grade students who created the illustrations for the book. The student artists included, second-grader Kendra Blatch; third-grader Sage Llorens; and fifth-graders Aarron Mathieu, Angela Aguiar, Cindi Mateo, Samantha Guzman, Pearl Ralon, Bakari Brown, Jaiden Green, Sanique Clue, Anna Pineiro, Ramon Valerio, Edwin Ortiz, Jocenid Choca, Nialese Santiago and Janetzy Garcia.
The stars of the book, Kacey, the Springfield Police emotional support dog and Lynn Vedovelli, dressed in her bumble bee costume, were also present.
“I was thrilled to be able to visit the kindergarten class this morning to share the book and the amazing pictures their peers drew with the students. It was great to have Kacey and Lynn there as well to help the story really come to life,” Commissioner Clapprood said. “I was excited to meet the young artists who helped me with the book as well to show them how the book came out and thank them for their work on the illustrations. My thanks to White Street School for welcoming us today.”
Each of the student artists will receive their own copy of the book over the summer and additional copies will be printed for Springfield Police officers to read at schools.
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