On Tuesday, nearly 100 children at the Dream Charter School on East 103rd Street in Manhattan shuttled into an auditorium in single file, sat down and then noisily chatted with one another, as fourth graders and fifth graders are apt to do when brought together for a school event.

Shortly after 10 a.m., the school’s principal, Eve Colavito, clapped her hands, and the students came to attention. It was a special day, Colavito told her students. It’s not often when a school is visited by a reigning Cy Young Award winner, who had quite a story to tell.

The Mets’ ace, R. A. Dickey, who was at the school to promote literacy through the Capital One Bank Book by Book program, told the students that his love of reading had made his remarkable career possible. Reading taught him to dream, he said, it taught him imagination, and most important, it taught him patience, a virtue that may serve Dickey well these days during his ongoing and uncertain contract discussions with the Mets.

Although Dickey wore a Mets jersey at the event, the appearance was not arranged by the team. It remains possible that Dickey, who is signed only through the 2013 season, could be traded next week at the winter meetings if the Mets conclude that at age 38 he may never again have a season like the one he just did. They could decide that his best value to a team like the Mets, who have so many holes to fill, is in a trade that brings several prospects in return.