(COOLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL -- Feb. 12, 2021) — Author Lisa Caprelli inspired Cooley students to sing, dance and — most importantly — read, during a Zoom visit Thursday morning. 

The former El Pasoan, known for her Unicorn Jazz book series, asked child actress Emily Isabel to join her on the virtual visit to talk about kindness and celebrating the “thing you do.” 

“I really started writing as a little girl,” Caprelli told the students. “Each one of you have a special thing – each one of you is unique.” 

She added: “Writing a book is a series of steps,” she told them. “Anyone can do it. You can write a book.  When I was in elementary, I was probably the quietest one. I was shy like Unicorn Jazz, so when the teacher said to write a paragraph, I’d write three. Once I got older they’d say to write a page, I’d write three. So, I really started writing as a little girl.”

Caprelli brought in Emily, who often reads the Unicorn Jazz series, her the message in her book “The Thing I do.” Emily, 12, performed in front of El Paso audiences in 2019, playing the role of Brigitta in the traveling company of “The Sound of Music” at the Plaza Theatre. 

“I started singing when I was just 7 years old and I’m now 12 years old, so I’ve been singing a long time,” Emily told the students. 

Librarian Martha Esquina loved the kindness message shared in Caprelli’s books and knew her students would enjoy them.

“The unicorn represents kindness,” Esquina said. “She’s bold. It’s about accepting all her uniqueness. I like how all the other books mesh together with the same idea. I think it’s wonderful the way she did it.” 

The unicorn gets other so sing with her and become her friend – a theme students watching from the library really embraced.

“It was so cool,” said second grader Eduardo Rodriguez. “I loved it when we were dancing and singing to the Unicorn Jazz song.”