Allow me to describe the ingredients of magic in my life: children, books and dogs. Two summers ago, I visited the marvelous literary festival, Printer’s Row in Chicago, and discovered SitStayRead, a literacy nonprofit, serving elementary age children in the Chicago public schools. I gravitated toward the booth because children, dogs and dog owners enshrouded the vicinity. As I neared the SitStayRead booth, I could feel the good karma emanating toward me and beckoning me to stop by for a visit. As an educator, I was seeking volunteer work in Chicago where I could satiate my passions of literacy, performance, animals, and writing. How fortunate I was to discover SitStayRead that warm, sunny June day.

Nancy’s SitStayRead partner, Ollie.

When I arrived home later that day, I immediately was greeted by the unconditional, affectionate, loving male in my life: Ollie, my King Charles Cavalier, who loves to listen to Josh Groban especially his Italian ballads. I immediately put on one of Josh Groban’s CD’s so I could explain my wonderful news to Ollie. I felt that I had to talk him into this new service dog role. I think I didn’t believe that Ollie would pass the service test because he could be a rascal at times. Ollie loved to sniff evergreens, flowers and dead carcasses. Sometimes he rolled on foul-smelling dead critters which often merited several shampoo sessions. He also loved to snuggle on the couch with me and watch television as long as there were no animals present in the show; otherwise, he was so over-protective of his number one amour, me, that he barked uncontrollably at the television set until I could assuage his fear that a galloping zebra was not in our house but was only in the television commercial. That day, I cuddled him as always and explained to him that he and I would embark on a new adventure. We were going to be a dog team and assist young students in the reading and writing process. When I told him, he would be working with children, and they would be giving him lots of Cheerios; his tail nearly wagged off his small but mighty body. I told him that he would be eating late meals as they do in Spain on our volunteer days due to his motion sickness. On our volunteer days, we have a thirty-minute drive to school, and Ollie had a rumble tumble tummy not conducive to motion. Ollie nodded gleefully and appeared to be elated at his newfound role, a service dog with SitStayRead.

Nancy and her dog Ollie volunteer with the non-profit Sit Stay Read Program in Chicago. Currently Nancy is looking for a literary agent to launch her Ollie picture book series. Nancy is the author of Puppies and Poems (2011).

Soon, Ollie and I became a SitStayRead dog team. First, we had to pass the SitStayRead Service Test. The day of the test, I was nervous and Ollie was calm. The test assessed temperament, congeniality and sociability. I believe Ollie scored better than I, but the very kind staff informed us that we passed with flying colors. Whew! Tests make me nervous, but Ollie was a Rock Star. Today, I proudly display Ollie’s SitStayRead diploma on the bookshelf because I often have to remind him that when he is a service dog, he must subdue his true rapscallion nature, tipping garbage cans over and jumping up on kitchen tables. I have to remind myself as well. Ollie now knows he has a destiny working with children. When I put on his SitStayRead bandana, his change in behavior astounds me because he knows he is going to school, and, thus, he becomes a very responsible service dog helping children with their reading and writing skills.

In the SitStayRead program, Ollie has become famous. When Ollie enters the hallways of the school, the children greet him with ooh’s and ahh’s. “There’s Ollie! Ollie’s here! I wrote a story about you, Ollie!” In the classroom, Ollie and I sit on a blanket and children arrive in two’s to pet Ollie. Then each of the students practices reading a book to Ollie and me. Other times, the students have written stories about Ollie or about the character in the book. They read their original stories to Ollie and me. The magic flows as children create stories of Ollie attending a birthday party where he eats blueberry pancakes and gets syrup all over his body or where Ollie learns to play football and makes the winning touchdown.

On one fall morning, I’ll never forget a young child named Antonio telling Ollie that he was sad because his grandmother recently had died. He told Ollie how much he missed her. Ollie licked Antonio’s hand, nose and ear which tickled Antonio. Antonio laughed and continued to pet Ollie. “You make me feel better, Ollie.” Then Antonio said, “Ollie, my grandmother is still here!” Antonio put his hand on his heart. “She’s in here!” Ollie licked Antonio again. Then Ollie licked me. Ollie knew that I was missing my mom, too. She had died too soon, and I had wanted to take her on many more travel adventures. So many days, I just wanted to go over to her townhouse and have a cup of tea with her. Ollie knew. But Antonio reminded me that day in the classroom that my mom was still here with me. Oh, I am grateful for children, books, dogs and SitStayRead. The magic continues in my life through my volunteerism with Ollie in the SitStayRead program.