“What do you want to be when you grow up?” asked the mole.
“Kind,” said the boy. — from "The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse" by Charlie Mackesy

This morning, Mon. March 1, each middle school and high school student at Glen Lake Community Schools (GLCS) will be handed, along with a personal note from Superintendent Jon Hoover, a copy of the recent publishing phenomenon, “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse.”

This will kick off national March is Reading Month at the school; the graphic novel will be read and discussed with classroom activities and surprises to be revealed to the students in the coming days. But for Hoover, its meaning goes beyond that: “I knew just a few pages in that this was one of the most important books we could ever put into the hands of our students and staff.”

British artist Charlie Mackesy’s collection of black-and-white drawings, plus conversations among the four protagonists (with lines such as ‘When the dark clouds come...keep going’ and ‘you are doing better than you think’) is a modern fable, billed as “a book of hope for uncertain times.”

Its message of empathy came right when the world needed it most: As Mackesy posted the pages in progress on his Instagram, they were reshared on notice boards at schools, prisons and hospitals. And from an article published on Penguin UK’s site: “While the book was being made, Mackesy’s drawings and words, which encouraged kindness and support, found their way onto the sides of buildings, and people were getting his characters tattooed on their bodies.”

Hoover tells the Leelanau Ticker he was introduced to the New York Times/Wall Street Journal bestseller last month by elementary counselor and GLCS alumna Cassidy Fisher. Fisher, previously a youth services counselor for the 13th Judicial Circuit Court-Family Division (Leelanau Family Court) was hired at GLCS 15 months ago. “It was a great day for Glen Lake to have one of our alumni come back home to be such a blessing to our students and staff,” says Hoover, who was Fisher’s elementary principal years ago. “She is a difference-maker.”

Says Fisher, “My mother-in-law, who is amazing, put the book in our stockings for Christmas. It’s a pretty quick read; I instantly felt so much warmth and safety, I thought, ‘oh my gosh, I have to get this book to some of our secondary kids.’”

She adds, “Every day here we are encountering some pretty tough things — including depression, anxiety and stress. Starting last spring, the insecurity about being in school or not in school did a number on our high school students.”

Hoover says the way Fisher used the book in situations that really required its message of love and hope “was the answer to a very large challenge we had been working on — which was to get a consistent and powerful message out to our students on how to deal with the effects of the pandemic and the many unknowns that were occurring in their lives.”

To start, Hoover made sure “all 128 members of our staff were given a copy of the book — custodians, bus drivers, food service staff, paraprofessionals…everyone.”

Now that the secondary students get their copies today, a book for each elementary student comes next — and by the end of the month, all 739 students in the Glen Lake district will have their own copies. To purchase the student books, GLCS is using its federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER II) funds, which address the impact that COVID-19 has had — and continues to have — on elementary and secondary schools across the country.

“Whether now, or in the months and years to come, I wanted our students to have this remarkable book in their possession so they could glean the wisdom and encouragement to carry on and know they are loved and appreciated always,” says Hoover.

The superintendent says one line among “so very many” stood out to him: “‘What is the bravest thing you have ever said?’ asked the boy. ‘Help,’ said the horse.”

He adds that this book has inspired staff to read the book to their own school age children and “talk with them about what it feels like to be lonely and afraid and unloved and how a family — whether a personal family or a school family — can be the difference in finding happiness and a sense that they are…important just as they are.”

For Fisher, as an elementary counselor, “I see kids who are experiencing anything from worries, family stuff, school or friend stuff. When they come to me they are often at their most vulnerable and my room is a safe space to talk about anything they need to. For me, the page that really resonates: ‘So you know all about me?’ asked the boy. ‘Yes,’ said the horse. ‘And you still love me?’ ‘We love you all the more.’

“I accept them and make them feel heard no matter what.”

Hoover adds, “without Cassidy [Fisher] knowing about the book, using the book with her students and then sharing it with me when we were working on finding best answers for our students, none of this happens. We need more heroes in our lives, and Cassidy is one of mine.”