ReadAloudPlays – ReadAloudPlays.com

What better way to celebrate Spring than to watch evergreens named Bill, Otto, and Luther come to life, . . . Or Mr. Toad hit the open road in his caravan . . . Or Jackie Robinson belt a triple. At ReadAloudPlays.com we have a host of engaging readers theater play scripts to counteract those test-taking spring time blues. Take our newest script, The Reluctant Dragon, Kenneth Grahame’s classic story about a poetry-spouting dragon who must face-off against the heroic knight, Sir George. It’s loaded with action, character, and vocabulary—and like all our scripts, it’s been kid-tested, so we know your students will love it. It’s a perfect addition to your National Poetry Month activities!

Nature Talks Back is another fun one. It’s an awesome Earth Day activity or simply a great play to teach environmental concepts such as beneficial insects and plant communication. I recently used it with a class of fifth graders who, after working on it for three days, presented it with huge grins to a class of smiling third graders! What a kick!

And of course, it’s baseball season! Our Jackie Robinson play is simply exceptional. Narrated by the hot dog man and the peanut vendor at a modern Yankees game (sorry Red Sox fans), it shows the significance of Jackie Robinson’s breaking of the color barrier in a way that’s both powerful and fun. I dare say, you won’t find a better Jackie story anywhere!

These and other professionally-crafted and uniquely-imagined scripts such as Chicken Little, Grimm’s The Mouse, the Bird, and the Sausage, and Goldie Locks: Home Reno, are all available on our TpT storefront.

Thank you for your recent 5-star reviews, Rachel R., Chalk Dust & Holy Water, Masters-ful Materials, Jennifer B., Reyes Royals Designs, Savvy Classroom, Melissa G., Nancy R., Ruby R., Sharla S., Shannon R., Augusta S., Emily W., Ebony L., Alissa M., Gretchen F., and Melissa C. from North Carolina who shared this:

This resource was easy to use and very well organized. The directions were clear, and it fit perfectly with my 7th grade curriculum. My students stayed engaged, and it helped reinforce the skills we were working on. I will definitely use this again! Highly recommend for teachers looking for a ready-to-use activity.

Happy directing!

My work for Scholastic writing black history plays is just a tiny blip on the civil rights radar, a minuscule contribution when compared to real civil rights heroes such as John Lewis and Sheyann Webb. But given Storyworks magazine’s truly cosmic readership, I realize that over my twenty-plus year association with Scholastic, my reader’s theater has influenced—at least in some small way—millions of kids. Millions. I think it’s fair to take some pride in that.

I often ponder, however, how a scrawny white kid from rural Oregon, a kid whose family spent their Sundays watching Hee Haw and Gunsmoke, how does that kid end up writing black history plays?

Well, for that I have to thank Stevie Wonder–and maybe a bit of divine intervention. When I was around ten years old I stumbled across a discount record bin at Payless department store. I’d recently set up my brother’s old Zenith “Stereophonic” record player so I could listen to my dad’s Tijuana Brass record, but I was on the lookout for something more, something of my own. Thumbing through the discs, I came across Stevie Wonder’s 1971 album, Where I’m Coming From. I had no idea who this Wonder guy was, but he had a cool name, and the cover seemed the antithesis of a Tijuana Brass album. So, I asked my mom if she could buy it for me.

My mom was never openly racist. She was generous to a fault and spent many hours volunteering to help less-fortunate people. But looking back, I recall that she’d voted for George Wallace in the 1972 presidential primary, so I suspect had she taken a closer look at the album, she would have nixed the purchase right there. None-the-less, I went home and cued up Stevie on the Zenith. I wonder what she thought when she heard “Do Yourself a Favor” blasting from behind my bedroom door. This was no Clark and Owens. Not the music or the message.

And I was hooked. Thus, Stevie Wonder became one of my most profound influences.

Frankly, Stevie doesn’t get enough credit for his contribution to civil rights. Despite Motown’s determination to mold him as a “black Bing Crosby”—a crooner—Stevie broke free and produced music that called attention to societal inequity, to the plight of minorities, to the struggles that come with poverty. While he wasn’t the first African-American artist to produce music with politically-charged, socially-relevant music, he was among the first to crossover into white culture. If a kid like me could get hooked on Stevie Wonder, then surely, around the country millions of other white kids must have been doing the same.

I never set out to be Scholastic’s black history playwright. I kind of stumbled into it. But it was Stevie Wonder’s music that had prepared me for the task. Without that influence, my poignant plays about MLK, Claudette Colvin, Ruby Bridges, and many others wouldn’t exist. And when I see those same plays presented by organizations such as the Palace Theater and most recently, Crete Monee Middle School in Illinois, I’m amazed at the reach Stevie has had.

If you’re using any of my Black History plays this month, please give a well-deserved nod to Stevie Wonder.

Happy directing.