Events › Storytime with Mrs. Jean Ficklin

Join us for storytime with special guest Mrs. Jean Ficklin, now age 93!   

To celebrate El Día de los Niños or Children's Day, each year we have Mrs. Ficklin visit to read her favorite childhood story, Heidi, by Johanna Spyri.  Mrs. Ficklin will take turns reading with children reading the book in Spanish.  

Our storytime room is named for Mrs. Ficklin, the first African American teacher in the Newark Unified School District.  She started teaching here in 1964 after moving to Newark from Jackson, Mississippi.  

To learn more about Mrs. Ficklin's life, you can listen to her oral history interview or read the transcript.  

Below:  photo of Mrs. Jean Ficklin