To do so, he had to look no farther away than his own uncle, Bill Duffy, who also is known as William Dufris, the man who was the original voice for “Bob The Builder,” a popular children’s television show.
Duffy, who recently did an audio book with Stephen King called “Locke And Key”, is a Houlton native who currently lives in South Portland.
He has been nominated 12 times as an audio book finalist for the APA’s prestigious Audie Award, and one for best non-fiction in 2012.
The third-grade teacher invited his uncle to spend an hour with students in kindergarten through grade three and read to them.
“The kids really enjoyed it,” Hiscoe said Thursday. “Before he read to them, he talked about his career and the TV show, and it was great for them to hear that. A lot of times kids say that they love video games and cartoons, but they don’t really believe that can transition into a career for them.”
Duffy read several chapters from “The Twits”, a book by Roald Dahl, and thrilled the children with his animation and by doing all the voices.
“They were laughing so hard,” Hiscoe said. “They just loved it. They begged him to read more.”
Hiscoe said that he saw an instant change in his students’ reading styles after the visit.
“My students read to me, and they used to read to me in this monotone,” he said “Now, they are getting more animated. It is great.”
HIscoe said that he is hoping to get his uncle up sometime later for a school-wide assembly.
