![]() That inspiration led Fritz Perry to write A Gift for Sadia, a children’s book that tells the story of a young Somali immigrant girl living in Rochester who feels isolated and alone in a new community. ![]() “Working with those kids reminded me of that little girl, and it felt like we hadn’t made much progress in the past 20 years – and it inspired me.” “When I was in 4th grade, there was a wonderful Hmong girl in my class, and I spent the whole year trying to get to know her but language was a huge barrier, and it was really frustrating,” says Fritz Perry. The experience made Fritz Perry realize how isolated the non-native speakers were ![]() The students, who were from countries as far-flung as Romania and Vietnam, spoke no English but quickly embraced the idea of expressing themselves through the universal language of art. ![]() When Marie Fritz Perry showed up for her first day as an artist-in-residence at Harriet Bishop Elementary School, she was in for a surprise: the principal informed her that the first class she would be working with was made up entirely of English-as-a-second-language (ESL) students. ![]()
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