Bartlesville Elementary Teacher Writes ‘Mr. Frizz’ Book To Teach Children To Read

A Bartlesville elementary school teacher just published a children’s book and is now using those skills to teach kids how to read and do artwork.

Jacquelyn Smith is the art teacher at Ranch Heights Elementary in Bartlesville.

She has already sold hundreds of copies of her book, Mr. Frizz, inspired by her pet chicken of the same name.

"He's a chicken that has a very big heart that likes to help his neighbors in his neighborhood by cutting and trimming their hair and making them feel good about themselves,” said Smith.

She says she got inspired to write the book by looking at Mr. Frizz and his funny hair.

The goal is to not only teach kids to love reading and art but also to help them learn how important it is to help other people.

"Just being kind to one another and lifting each other up, so I tried really hard to make our book kind of intertwined with that,” said Smith.

She also illustrated Mr. Frizz, which took about 8 hours for each page.

She says she may write more books based on some of her other chickens, who her students get to meet in the Spring.

She wants students to know they can do anything they set their minds to with hard work and determination.

"No matter how big, no matter how small, in each thing we do, we need to give it our all,” said Smith. “That's something that I want to instill in all of my students, to know that whatever dream they have, they can pursue that, and they can accomplish it."

Kids can get the Mr. Frizz book at the school book vending machine, where they are able to get free books for helping others, just like Mr. Frizz did.