While Mississippi State University students are reading “The Optimist’s Daughter,” Mississippi 4-H youth development organization students will be performing Eudora Welty’s “The Shoe Bird” across the state as part of the Maroon Edition Youth Project.
 Linda Mitchell, 4-H youth development specialist for the MSU extension service, said there are several counties around the state participating in the Maroon Edition Youth Project including George, Lee, Marshall and Pontotoc counties.
 Beth Randall, Lee County 4-H agent, said she thinks one goal of the project is to teach students the importance of literature.
 ”Literacy is so important, and it is important that we all take an active role in letting children develop a love for books. We need to let them see how important it is to bring books alive,” Randall said.
Randall said she hopes the students not only enjoy the performance but also learn valuable life lessons through the project.
“They’re going to learn to think for themselves and not to go along with the crowd, and they’ll have a positive experience watching the older students,” Randall said.
Randall’s 4-H students will be performing “The Shoe Bird” in a Tupelo elementary school this fall.
“The Shoe Bird” is Welty’s only youth-oriented book and is about a parrot that works in a shoe store. Mitchell said 4-H students will perform in costumes as different birds to help illustrate the story.
 ”The 4-H’ers are going in costume to the classrooms, and they are doing a dramatic presentation of the book,” Mitchell said. “They will be asking questions and getting the children involved.”
 MSU first lady Rhonda Keenum said after watching the performance, participating third through fifth grade students will have the opportunity to respond and practice reading and listening comprehension skills by creating art works for a competition later in the semester. There will be a reception at MSU for the winners of the art competition at the end of the project.
 Keenum said the Maroon Edition Youth Project engages youth of all ages, including the students watching the performances and the students performing.
 ”You have empowered a preteen student body to take on this project, to educate primary students,” Keenum said. “I think they’ve taken it on with great excitement and certainly with great dedication.”
 Mitchell agreed the project is beneficial for both the elementary students and the 4-H members participating in the performance.
 ”One of the strengths of this project is the fact that you have youth teaching and sharing with children,” Mitchell said. “You reach the children in third through fifth grades, because they’re getting to participate in the story, they’re having the teenagers come in costume, making it a fun event for them.”
 Mitchell said some of the 4-H students participating are also on the state 4-H literacy team.
 ”They understand the value of sharing, the love of reading and words and the exploration of characters, all of the great things you get from a book. They understand that and they want to share that with children,” Mitchell said.
 The Maroon Edition Youth Project is a youth outreach program designed to correspond to the author chosen for the Maroon Edition, Keenum said. This is the second year of the program that involves high school students reaching out to elementary school students. Last year the program worked with Greg Mortenson’s “Listen to the Wind” while MSU students read “Three Cups of Tea.”
 Keenum said she hopes the Maroon Edition committee will continue to choose authors with publications suitable for children.
“Whatever the committee selects, we will be able to leverage that for our Maroon Edition Youth Project,” Keenum said.