Literacy Takes Center Stage
Actors Give Back to Schools
Actor and singer Nico Boccio has performed at Lincoln Center and with the Bronx Opera Company, in a career spanning more than four decades. But of all the roles he has played, perhaps the most rewarding has been “Mr. Nicky,” a recurring character who gives a very special performance each week at P.S. 111 in midtown Manhattan.

For the past eight years, Boccio has volunteered with BookPALS (Performing Artists for Literacy in Schools). Established in Los Angeles in 1992, BookPALS sends professional actors into public elementary schools to encourage literacy and help children develop a love of reading. BookPALS is a program of the Screen Actors Guild Foundation, and it draws on the natural strength of its volunteers as performers.

On a recent classroom visit, students leapt from their seats at the first sight of Boccio, holding up books they wanted to read together. Boccio read from A.A. Milne’s “Winnie the Pooh,” as the second-graders sat in rapt attention. Later, Boccio sang a few bars of “Tomorrow,” which the well-informed students immediately recognized from the musical “Annie." Lacing his dramatic readings with character voices, songs, and personal stories, Boccio engages the class and has students hanging on his every word. It’s a reception that Boccio says makes him feel “like I’m ten feet tall.”

Walking through the halls, he greets the students he’s met over the years, and extends smiles, hugs, and pats on the head. Boccio even reads in costume for special events, such as Read Across America Day, when he dressed as the Cat in the Hat to commemorate the life of Dr. Seuss.

“Nico is one of our most committed volunteers,” says Maria Cabezas, who coordinates BookPALS in New York City. “Whenever we call him to help, he always says yes.”

BookPALS currently sends over 150 volunteers into elementary schools in all five boroughs. For information about getting involved with BookPALS, click here.

“When we place a reader in a school, I can see the joy it brings everyone—the students as well as the volunteer,” she continues. “It’s just so rewarding to see the kids faces light up.”

Irma Marcial-Medina, the principal of P.S. 111, agrees. She began her career teaching at P.S. 111 in the 1980s before returning 20 years later as principal. As part of its effort to foster students’ love of reading, the school recently applied for and was awarded a Library REACH grant by The Fund for Public Schools.

Marcial-Medina couldn’t be happier with her school’s partnership with BookPALS. “They’re intriguing, they’re enchanting. Kids fall in love with them right away,” she says of Boccio and the other volunteers. In fact, she often finds herself “mesmerized” by the engaging readings when she stops into classrooms to observe. “They take you on a journey.”

The principal is thrilled by the enthusiasm and dedication of the volunteers at her school, and hopes more New Yorkers will choose to get involved. “Join us,” she says. “Become a part of our family.”