EAST GRAND FORKS, Minn. — As she begins first grade, Maggie Kuznia is already a natural storyteller.
“Did you know you could eat at the Eiffel Tower?” Maggie asks a visitor she’s just met — who didn’t.
The topics change quickly, from puzzles to ice cream bars, with Maggie pausing occasionally to breathe.
But Maggie’s storytelling has recently taken a geriatric turn.
“Hi Patti,” Maggie says as she enters the senior apartment of Patti Griggs.
“Hello there, honey,” Patti answers in return.
Maggie, who recently turned 7, unzips her backpack adorned with Elsa from “Frozen.”
“This one,” Maggie says as she pulls out the book for which she was searching.
Then, Maggie sits down on the couch next to Patti and reads.
Over the next couple hours, the process will be repeated multiple times. Maggie walks from apartment to apartment, knocking on doors, as residents of Good Samaritan Society Heritage Grove senior living invite her in to read to them.
“Mamma llama red pajama,” Maggie reads to 95-year-old Eileen Baird who is seated at her side.
Maggie’s mother, Tiffany Kuznia, works at Heritage Grove. On snow days, Maggie would go with her mother to work.
Last winter, Maggie was packing her bag for the day, when her mother reminded her to bring her Nintendo Switch.
“I'm not bringing that today,” Maggie responded. “I'm going to bring books and I'm going to read to the residents.”
What started on snow days, became once or twice a week visits during summer vacation.
“Come on, Margaret,” Maggie says, taking the hand of 96-year-old Margaret Sondreal. The pair walks the hall to Margaret’s apartment.
Maggie pulls from her backpack a book called “The Good Egg” that she has chosen for Margaret.
“Exhausted,” Margaret says when Maggie struggles with the word. She accepts Margaret's guidance and pushes on.
For the past few months, no one has had more reading tutors than Maggie.
“It's helped it tremendously,” her mother says. “And it built up her confidence of reading too.”
Maggie’s parents started reading to their daughter before she was born, but her love of books has further blossomed as Maggie makes the rounds at Heritage Grove.
“She falls asleep every night with a book in her hands,” Tiffany says. “Every morning there's like three or four books in her bed.”
Maggie knocks on Joni Benson's door before entering her apartment.
“Okay, what are you going to read to grandma?” Joni asks.
Joni isn’t really Maggie’s grandma; it just feels that way when the two are sharing a book.
Count Patti Griggs impressed.
“She’s such a good little reader. I taught first grade, and I taught kids how to read. There were very few children who could come in and read like that,” Patti says.
The pair sits on Patti’s couch, with the former teacher’s arm around Maggie, as the first grader reads aloud from a book called “The Bad Seed.”
Patti thinks Maggie might be onto something. Maybe more beginning readers could take advantage of the willing residents of senior homes.
“I think the intergenerational part is so good,” Patti says. “Everybody likes to have the attention of another person and be special to them.”
Maggie agrees.
“I really like when she helps me out because it makes me know the words more better,” she says.
Patti smiles.
“Besides,” she says. “I give good hugs.”
Boyd Huppert is always looking for great stories to share in the Land of 10,000 Stories! Send us your suggestions by filling out this form.
Watch more from the Land of 10,000 Stories:
Watch the latest videos from the Land of 10,000 Stories in our YouTube playlist and subscribe to the Land of 10,000 Stories Complete Collection on YouTube.
WATCH MORE ON KARE 11+
Download the free KARE 11+ app for Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV and other smart TV platforms to watch more from KARE 11 anytime! The KARE 11+ app includes live streams of all of KARE 11's newscasts. You'll also find on-demand replays of newscasts; the latest from KARE 11 Investigates, Breaking the News and the Land of 10,000 Stories; exclusive programs like Verify and HeartThreads; and Minnesota sports talk from our partners at Locked On Minnesota.
- Add KARE 11+ on Roku here or by searching for KARE 11 in the Roku Channel Store.
- Add KARE 11+ on Fire TV here or by searching for KARE 11 in the Amazon App Store.
- Learn more about the KARE 11+ app for Apple TV in the Apple App Store.
- Learn more about KARE 11+ here.