The San Diego Traveler

This year marks the 10th Anniversary of Read Across America, an event sponsored by the National Educational Association.  This event is commemorated by weeklong reading celebrations at schools and libraries throughout the nation.  A star-studded Read-In was held in the New York Public Library.  Parents, athletes, law enforcement officials, local politicians and celebrities were all featured readers in schools, libraries and book stores around the country.  Some high schools planned poetry jams, while others sent their students out to read to elementary school children.  All of the reading events culminated in a celebration of Dr. Seuss, on what would have been his (Theodor Seuss Geisel’s) 103rd birthday, March 2. 

Why Dr. Seuss?

 In the 1950’s, an article appeared in the Life magazine asking “Why Can’t Johnny Read?”  The author, Pulitzer prize winner John Hersey, claimed that the reason children weren’t reading is because their Dick and Jane primers were so boring.  He challenged authors  to write more exciting children’s books, using the 236 words from the 1st grade vocabulary list.  Dr. Seuss took up that challenge, and wrote the much beloved The Cat in the Hat, which children have been reading ever since. 

Commemorating  the 50th anniversary of the book in 2007, the Cat in the Hat was read on March 2 at 2:36 p.m. (EST) all over the country.

How did San Diego celebrate reading?

Here in San Diego, we take this celebration rather personally, because Ted Geisel spent so many of his years living in La Jolla, before his demise in 1991.  He is truly a local hero.

To celebrate, students at La Costa Meadows Elementary in Carlsbad decorated the school with Seuss characters, and wore handmade red-and-white hats.  Firefighters, sheriff’s deputies, military officials and student role models known as the San Marcos High School Knights of the Roundtable stopped by the campus to read children’s books to students. A tree was also  dedicated in the school’s garden, in honor of Dr. Seuss’ book ”The Lorax.”

Councilman Dick Daniels and Escondido History Center Executive Director Wendy Barker were among 18 readers to share a story at Felicita School.

Fire Chief Vic Reed was among 40 people reading at Juniper School  in Escondido.

Susie Spanos, wife of Chargers team president Dean Spanos, joined in the celebration by being a guest reader at Benito Juarez Elementary School.

There was a cake cutting and reading celebration at Geisel Library on the UCSD campus, attended by Geisel’s widow, Audrey.

In Paradise Hills, Perry Elementary Principal Shelagh Moran dressed as the Cat in the Hat, and the children all wore crazy hats, all meant to encourage and celebrate reading.

The Kiwanis Club of San Marcos, dressed as pirates, continued their literacy efforts, delivering treasure chests of books to kindergarten classes.

So, what about that video?

At Vista Academy for Visual and Performing Arts, they have a tradition of meeting for Friday assemblies, finishing with the “Bulldog Boogie,” an outdoor song and dance that starts their day.  On Friday, the children were surprised when they were joined by the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, who came to present a flag flown in Fallugia, and to read to the children.  The surprise turned to delight when the marines joined them in the Bulldog Boogie, as shown in the video.

How can you join in?

It’s not too late to join the celebration.  Between now and May 1, for every birthday card sent to the Cat in the Hat, Random House will donate one new book to First Book.  First Book is a non-profit organization that gives books to children from low-income households.

Of course, there’s something else you can do that’s just as fun.  Pick up a good book, or read to your kid.  That’s what it’s all about.

For more information on Dr. Seuss, see:

Fifty Years of The Cat in the Hat by Lynn Neary

Dr. Seuss on the Web

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