The National Read Across America came to Santa Clarita on Friday, calling for every child in to celebrate the birthday of children’s author Dr. Seuss.
Members of the community came out to Fair Oaks Community School to read to elementary students and teach them the importance of reading.
Ken Newton has been running the effort for the last 15 years, which locally — as part of a national campaign — uses the works of Dr. Seuss to encourage literacy among small children.
“The kids remember it, they hear the speaker’s love of reading and their profession,” Newton said. “I bump into old students and they tell me they remember Dr. Seuss day, or the FBI agent reading to them.”
Some of the guest readers this year included The Signal’s Austin Dave, Councilman Cameron Smyth and even some of the cheerleaders for the Lakers and Clippers.
“I read ‘Horton Hatches an Egg’ today to a class of first graders, I had their attention, well until the Clipper girls came in,” Smyth said about his reading time. “I have kids myself and they always enjoy something that breaks up the day and gets them out of the norm. Anyway that we can spark a students interest in reading is something that should be explored and Read Across America is a fun, easy way to create a new environment to encourage reading.”
Read Across America is country-wide event that started back in 1998 by the National Education Association, to create a day to “celebrate reading.” The event takes place on March 2 every year.
