Read Across America Day is all about motivating young people all over the United States to read. It is a massive celebration to highlight the importance of literacy and literature appreciation. This big day is sponsored by the National Education Association and aptly hosted on the birthday of treasured children’s book author Dr. Seuss, AKA Theodor Seuss Geisel.
Did you know that Dr. Seuss designed The Cat in the Hat as a fun and unique teaching tool? In May of 1954, Life magazine published an article which stated that a major deterrent to childhood literacy was a lack of enjoyable and entertaining age-specific reading material. With that in mind, Dr. Seuss compiled a list of 255 words he believed were important reading building blocks and created The Cat in the Hat using all those words. He went on to both write and also illustrate 44 children’s books, earning himself a Pulitzer Prize and four Academy Awards.
Unfortunately, not everyone has the same access to reading materials that we may be fortunate to have. Here are some ideas for how we can all participate in Read Across America Day…
Join us in supporting Read Across America Day by:
- Donating Books You Will Not Read Again
- Reading One Unassigned Book this Month
- Reading Aloud to a Younger Child
- Reading One News Article A Week
- Starting a Book Club
- Telling Us About Your Favorite Book
Thank you for checking in; we appreciate your dedication to helping others learn.
Thank you and happy reading,
Dr. David Markowitz and Dr. Lauren Gray