Every Day Is Special: March 2 - National Read Across America

March 2 - National Read Across America

Posted on March 2, 2021

This is an update of my post published on March 2, 2010:

Today is the birthday of children's author Dr. Seuss, whose real name was Theodor Seuss Geisel. Born on this date in 1904, Dr. Seuss wrote 44 children's books as well as a few meant for adults. His works have been made into movies, TV specials, and a Broadway musical and have inspired toys and dolls.

I bet a few of these look familiar!

Unfortunately (like a lot of authors from the past), Dr. Seuss was racist, and some of his books have subtle racist overtones - in some of his earlier works, even blatantly racist messages. So, even though Seuss sold a lot of books, in a lot of countries (over 200 million worldwide, in at least 15 different languages) - and even though he has won a lot of awards and has been honored many times (2 Academy awards, 2 Emmys, a Peabody award, the Pulitzer Prize, and of course Read Across America Day being on his birthday!) - even though all of that is true, these days many parents and grandparents are making sure to read loads of books by anti-racist authors in addition to (or maybe instead of) Suess books. Teach for the Change has some great suggestions (scroll down to the pictures of books); here are a few:

I Am Brown, by Ashok Banker

All the Colors We Are, The Story of How We Got Our Skin Color, by Katie Kissinger

Let's Talk About Race, by Julius Lester

Hush! A Thai Lullaby, by Minfong Ho

Please, Baby, Please, by Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee

Peekaboo Morning, by Rachel Isadora

I Am Enough, by Grace Byers

The Wonderful Things You Will Be, by Emily Winfield Martin

Be You!, by Peter H. Reynolds

National Read Across America is supposed to be a day when every child can read in the company of a caring adult. I have seen, in the past, lots of events for the day in which the ADULT is reading to a group of kids - and that's fun, too!

You can watch and listen to kids books being read aloud by famous folks on Storytime Online.

A short bio of Seuss

Geisel was born in Massachusetts and went to Dartmouth College, becoming a contributor and eventually the editor-in-chief of the college's humor magazine. When the college punished him for breaking a rule by making him drop all his extracurricular activities, Geisel began to write using his mother's maiden name (which was also his middle name), Seuss.

Upon graduation from college, Geisel began to work in advertising, using his clever writing and rhyming ability as well as his humorous illustrations. He also wrote humorous pieces for magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post and Life. During World War II he created political cartoons and created posters for the U.S. war effort. He even joined the Army and became the commander of the Animation Department of the First Motion Picture Unit of the U.S. Army Air Forces.

But somewhere in there he managed to write a few children's books. His first, And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street, was inspired by the rhythm of his ship as he crossed the Atlantic Ocean.

Geisel never had kids of his own, although he was married twice. He died in 1991.

To celebrate the day...

Of course, reading is the way to spend the day! Read silently, read aloud, read together with someone...

You could do a few Seuss-themed activities, as well:

If you own some Dr. Seuss books - and you have permission - you could use crayons to make the illustrations multi-racial. For sure, if you spot racism, talk about it, and decide what to do: ditch the book or edit (rewrite) the book are two ideas.

Make Oobleck! Inspired by Seuss's book Bartholomew and the Oobleck, try out this non-Newtonian fluid that acts like a liquid and a solid at the same time.