John Schumacher, more commonly known as Mr. Schu, talks about reading with students at South Fork Elementary during his visit to the school on Wednesday, Sept. 12. Schumacher is the current Ambassador of School Libraries for Scholastic Book Fairs, a job that has him traveling across the country to spread his love for reading with students and teachers alike, speaking to thousands annually.
John Schumacher, standing, holds a microphone close to South Fork Elementary student Michael Hatch so he can answer a question during Schumacher’s visit to the school on Wednesday, Sept. 12.
South Fork Elementary students burst out in laughter at something John Schumacher, also known as Mr. Schu, not pictured, said during his visit to the school on Wednesday, Sept. 12.
John Schumacher, more famously known as Mr. Schu, points at students during his visit to South Fork Elementary on Wednesday, Sept. 12.
John Schumacher, also known as Mr. Schu, holds up a copy of “The One and Only Ivan” as South Fork Elementary students jostle to get his attention during his visit to the school on Wednesday, Sept. 12.
WALKER -- John Schumacher values two things in life above all else.
Books and libraries.
Libraries and books.
The order you put them in doesn’t matter much to Schumacher, more commonly known as “Mr. Schu” — he loves them both one and same.
He expressed that love with 200 rowdy, book-hungry third and fourth graders during a spirited visit to South Fork Elementary last week.
Schumacher is the current Ambassador of School Libraries for Scholastic Book Fairs, a job that has him traveling across the country to spread his love for reading with students and teachers alike, speaking to thousands annually.
He is a blogger and a part-time lecturer of children’s literature at Rutgers University, according to his online bio, and “Library Journal” named him “The Xtreme Librarian” for the “high level of exertion – along with some gears and stunts – he uses to get kids reading.”
Another publication, “Instructor Magazine,” named him a “Cool Teacher” for “redefining what it means to be a teacher-librarian.”
Everything he does centers around the two things he loves most.
Book and libraries.
And for Schumacher, last Wednesday was a chance for him to spread his passion in an area he’s never visited — despite a grueling schedule that has him on the road 220 days a year.
If his trip to South Fork Elementary was any indication, he may be back in Livingston Parish soon.
“Weren’t the kids great?” he asked after.
Schumacher is no stranger to students, particularly elementary students.
Before the Chicago native became Mr. Schu, he was simply Mr. Schumacher, a teacher who taught third and fourth grades before becoming his school’s full-time librarian, all in a 12-year span within the same school district.
Schumacher said his personal highlight was being a librarian, a position he held longer than the others.
But when an opportunity working with Scholastic presented itself three years ago, Schumacher knew he couldn’t pass it up.
So with a wave of his hand and a tearful “goodbye,” he left behind his beloved school and students for a new adventure that lay ahead.
“It was really hard to leave my school,” he said, “but it was time for me to leave and do something new, to spread my message of what I believe in beyond the walls of my school and to be able to have a role in which I could truly advocate for school libraries and librarians.
“Something I say all the time is my role is to remind people that every child deserves to go to a school with a library, and every child deserves to go to a school with a full-time school librarian. Having a school library and librarian should be seen as a right for children.”
Schumacher still spends his time in libraries — just not the same one twice.
He goes from state to state to state, bouncing from school to school, talking about nothing but “my two favorite things on this planet.”
Libraries and books.
He spoke to 62,000 students nationwide during the 2017-18 school year and has already visited 4,000 so far this year. He also speaks to teachers and leads professional development programs — all done in the name of reading.
“My job is to remind people about the human connection that can be experienced through story,” Schumacher said. “Stories connect us.”
He discussed some of those connections with South Fork Elementary students, though one stood out among the rest.
A gorilla’s signature
The day was Dec. 27, 2011, and at the moment Schumacher was captivated by the book in his hands: “The One and Only Ivan” by K.A. Applegate, which tells the story of a silverback gorilla named Ivan who lived in a cage at a mall. The novel is written in first person from Ivan’s point of view.
Schumacher received a copy of the book two weeks before its release and sat down to read it one morning.
Once he started, he couldn’t stop.
“I felt like I was glued to the book,” Schumacher told South Fork students. “I could not put the book down. When I walked to the refrigerator for water, my head was down reading the book. When I ate dinner, I read it. Even when it was time to go to bed, I couldn’t stop.”
After hours of reading, the end of the book drew near, sending Schumacher into a panic: The book could not end, he told himself, I need more words and pages.
He tried to convince himself to wait until the next day to read the book, but that notion stood little chance — he had to finish.
“When I read the last word on the last page, I could not stop crying,” he told students. “I needed a whole box of Kleenex because I was so upset when I finished reading this book.”
Schumacher said he loved the book so much he decided to buy every copy he saw and give it away, and after two months and many trips to the local bookstore, he had handed out 300 copies of Ivan’s tale.
After hearing of Schumacher’s gesture, the book’s author sent him a T-shirt featuring Ivan and asked if Schumacher wanted to meet the real Ivan, an invitation the librarian joyfully accepted.
He then went to Atlanta where Ivan lived and got to spend one hour with the famous silverback gorilla, who ate oranges and every few minutes tossed a blueberry in the air before catching it in his mouth.
At one point Schumacher went inside Ivan’s bedroom, which was cluttered with books, stuffed animals, cardboard boxes and calendars (“because he loved looking at the pictures”). In the pantry were stacks of paint cans, brushes and a canvas (“Ivan was a painter”).
It was then that Ivan’s caretaker asked Schumacher if he’d like Ivan to sign his copy of the book, which Ivan did by dipping his finger in green paint and pressing down, leaving a green fingerprint on the page.
The publishing company later asked Schumacher to send the page with Ivan’s signature — a request that made Schumacher nervous.
Fortunately for Schumacher, the company sent the page back to him unscathed, and when the paperback edition of “The One and Only Ivan” was released three years ago, it had a new feature inside: On page No. 318, below a letter Schumacher penned about meeting Ivan, is a copy of Ivan’s fingerprint — a green smudge at the bottom corner of the page and one of only two signatures Ivan gave before he died in August 2012.
That’s just one example of the way Schumacher said he’s been emotionally touched by the books he’s read, a reason he tries to bring the story up during every school visit and discussion.
The book — not to mention Schumacher’s personal story with Ivan — includes some of his favorite elements, elements he tells teachers their elementary students should read plenty of.
“Another part of my advocacy is reminding teachers about the importance of letting kids choose the books they want to read and also the importance of creating spaces in which kids feel warm and safe and loved,” he said. “We want to nurture their reading lives, not extinguish them.
“Let them read books that are full of laughter and love and hope because those books will touch them in a different way. When you read books that have love, you tattoo love on their hearts.”
