Sharing the Joy of Learning

Palisadian Julie Firstenberg Kamins has just released her first children’s book, ‘Why Am I at the Red Table?’ the newest children’s book dedicated to kids with a desire to learn and to those who have faced challenges in learning and reading. On Saturday, January 26 at noon she will appear at Village Books on Swarthmore to sign books and answer questions. The book follows the story of Madison, a second grader who has just started school and has been assigned to the ‘red table’ reading group. Aware of the labeling, she is quickly discouraged and stops reading. Eventually, Madison learns an important lesson. ‘Education is really about focusing on your own learning, and not really paying attention to or comparing yourself to others, but trying to work on your own personal best,’ Kamins said. ‘The message isn’t that you will definitely move up, but if you don’t try at all, you definitely won’t.’ Kamins, an academic tutor, drew inspiration from her students to write this book about educational challenges. ‘It’s designed for children to give them the experience of someone else who might be feeling similar and to show them, not to worry about anyone else,’ Kamins said. ‘When you get to be our age, no one asks what reading group you were in. We don’t really judge people that way; it’s more about a work ethic that develops in life.’ One of Kamins students was in a situation similar to Madison’s. A lack of confidence discouraged her from reading, so Kamins read her an early rough draft of ‘Why Am I at the Red Table?’ Following her tutoring session that night, she surprised her family by reading aloud at the dinner table. Shortly after she entered a read-a-thon, in which she read 120 books. Kamins attended Westlake (now Harvard-Westlake) School, where she began tutoring during her freshman year. She went on to receive degrees in English and sociology from UC Berkeley, where she continued to tutor. Following her undergraduate studies she received her law degree from Southwestern. Although she had no children while attending law school, the school allowed her to enroll in the single mothers program (classes were offered during the school day so that mothers could be home when their children were finished with school) so that she could continue to tutor. ‘Tutoring has always been a part of me, since I was 14,’ Kamins said. Kamins now tutors seven days a week from her home on Asilomar. Her husband Philip is a local dentist and the couple has two children, Joshua, 6 and Alana, 2. Joshua is credited, along with many other children, as ‘junior editors’ who helped Kamins complete her book. ‘People think the book is just about learning disabilities, but it’s not,’ Kamins said. ‘It’s an overall message about learning.’