A child curls up in the corner of a classroom with a book pulled from the storage bin. As the pages turn, something unexpected happens. The main character looks like them. Thinks like them. For perhaps the first time, they don’t just read a story. They see themselves in one.

For Rachel Taylor, Teaching Artist and Education Program Manager for Literacy Engagement and Resiliency Programming at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA), that moment plants a seed for a lifelong love of stories and, ultimately, the next generation of theatregoers.

Growing up in the 1970’s, Taylor rarely saw children who looked like her represented in books. Then she discovered Everyone Knows What a Dragon Looks Like by Jay Williams. “I must have read it a hundred times because it was that moment of, ‘There’s me. I’m in this,’” she recalled.

Today, creating that same experience for other children helps guide the books she selects for Book Stars. The PreK through Kindergarten literacy program introduces students to children’s picture books by inviting them to bring the story to life. They make choices, solve problems, imagine new possibilities, and become active participants in the narrative.

“We work really hard to make sure kids can see themselves in those stories because they’ll latch on,” Taylor shared. Every time she selects a new title and develops a new Book Stars experience, the process is intentional. The goal is to create meaningful connections, particularly for children who may have never seen themselves reflected in a story, while also learning about experiences beyond their own.

“Book Stars really is putting that child within the story,” said Rick Mireles, Director of Community Engagement. By encouraging children to engage in imagination and play, Book Stars helps turn reading from a task into an adventure.

The program now offers 16 unique Book Stars experiences, each built around a different children’s book and designed to spark imagination, curiosity, and a love of reading. During the 2025/26 school year, teaching artists delivered 1,384 workshops, reaching 28,471 participants at 57 schools across seven Colorado counties. Just six years ago, the program had reached approximately 11,000 students. Today, demand continues to outpace capacity, with dozens of schools waiting for an opportunity to participate.

But Book Stars is just one piece of DCPA Education’s broader commitment to early literacy and storytelling. Families can also experience DCPA-led Story Times connected to Theatre for Young Audiences productions, bringing the stories children read to life on stage.

Literacy also serves as the foundation for some of DCPA’s youngest acting students. Classes like Monsters, Magic, and Making Friends and Awesome Me! use children’s books as a springboard for storytelling, creative play, and self-expression. Students don’t simply hear a story. They step inside it.

“It’s showing them that imagination and play can be part of reading,” Mireles shared.

That sense of wonder serves a larger purpose. The DCPA is fostering a love of reading and introducing children to theatre long before they ever sit in the audience. As Taylor put it, “Early literacy is crucial to theatre surviving.”

Connecting young people and their families with stories through classrooms, libraries, and community partnerships, is another opportunity to plant that seed. After all, today’s young reader may become tomorrow’s actor, playwright, or audience member. And it all starts with opening a book, seeing themselves in the story, and realizing they belong in it.

The Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA) NewsCenter is the organization’s editorial platform for stories, announcements, interviews, and coverage of theatre and cultural programming in Colorado. We are committed to producing accurate, trustworthy, clearly sourced journalism that reflects our mission and serves our community.