Armstrong on way to stardom

When nine-year-old Cassandra Star Armstrong learned she had to stay

home when the schools closed last March due to the COVID-19 pandemic,

she wondered what she could do to help others stuck at home. With her

love of reading, she decided to read story books on line with the

technical help of her mother Nikki Armstrong-Wiedenhoeft to use social

media as a venue for her readings.

The adventure began on March 17, when Armstrong-Wiedenhoeft videotaped

Cassandra reading her first story.

“It went a lot better than we thought,” she said. “School teachers

asked if they could share it in their google classroom portals and it

just went on from there.”

Cassandra set a goal and decided to provide readings for 100 days

straight.

“Are you kidding me?” asked her mother. “Are you really going to keep

to the goal of 100 stories on line?”

But Armstrong-Wiedenhoeft said Cassandra knew it was cheering little

kids up and parents were even putting it on for their children at

bedtime. Older people were also watching including many of the book

authors, specifically Robert Munch. He emailed Cassandra a couple times

and told her how proud he was of her for sharing her gift of reading

with his stories and that she was doing an awesome job.

Armstrong-Wiedenhoeft said that at least 50 per cent of the authors

acknowledged her work and sent her messages of encouragement and

compliments. Craig Smith, The Wonkey Donkey author from New Zealand,

still keeps in touch with her.

See the full story in the print and digital editions of The

Chronicle-Journal.