By Alexandra Moyen
BAY RIDGE — Like many people trapped inside their homes during the pandemic, 7-year-old Bryan Rumfelt was looking for a fun and productive way to stay busy.
On April 29, Rumfelt created “Bryan’s Book Corner,” a Facebook page where Rumfelt posts videos of himself reading books to other kids missing storytime.
With a poster in the background that reads “Bryan’s Book Corner” in bold colorful letters, Rumfelt has read 24 children’s books such as “The Pigeon Needs a Bath,” “Harold and Hog Pretend For Real,” and, the fan-requested book, “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!”
For each book Rumfelt reads, he has a stuffed animal representing its characters.
“Some people are sick, and some people are at their houses pretty bored, and so I wanted to make them happy by doing ‘Bryan’s Book Corner,’” he explained to Currents News.
The idea for the book corner started when Rumfelt was reading to his grand- mother Donna and she suggested he read to other kids who don’t have storytime. With the help of Donna and Rumfelt’s mother, Jenn, they created the Facebook page which has an audience of over 1,000 members of all ages.
“He said, ‘Oh put that on Facebook,’ not knowing that it was going to explode,” said Donna. “I just put ‘Bryan’s Book Corner’ and put a video up, and people just went crazy for it.”
Rumfelt has attracted readers of all ages and has only received encouragement and positivity from commenters. Stephen Aponte Sr. and Duncan McCarthy, who have shown themselves to be fans of Rumfelt, even asked for his autograph.
Rumfelt is a big personality who “loves others” and likes to make people happy.
Rumfelt spread that love as far as Houston, Texas, in Sept. 2017 by raising $3,000 for the children who suffered from Hurricane Harvey, according to his Facebook page. Rumfelt gave half of the proceeds to a non-profit organization Pajamas & Books and the other half to another organization, Save the Children.
In each of the videos, any viewer can tell how eager the avid reader is to make his listeners happy by giving good impressions of characters such as Gerald and Piggie in the book, “Today I Will Fly!” Recently Rumfelt posted a video in honor of Father’s Day, choosing the book “Because I am Your Dad.”
“Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there, especially to my grandpa and also my dad!” Rumfelt said in his video.
Although schools might open this fall and students will eventually be going back, Bryan told Currents News he isn’t going to be putting storytime back on the shelf anytime soon.
