Today is one of our very favorite days of the year. After all, how many other days focus on the importance of reading? It’s a a great opportunity for teachers, librarians, and parents to call for all readers, young and old, to celebrate the books that have changed their lives and to discover the books they haven’t met yet.
Read Across America was established in 1998 by the National Education Association to encourage children to get excited about reading. It’s presented as a bit of a game, a kind of competition with themselves to see how committed they can stay to the act of reading over the next 365 days. Since then, it has become incredibly successful, breeding new readers and welcoming back old readers with only one aim in mind: to open young minds and a good book.
And what better day to celebrate our love of words, worlds, and the way the two can merge than on Dr. Seuss’s birthday? That’s right! Theodore Seuss Geisel would have been 112 today. But his legacy lives on through his inimitable imagination, a place he welcomed us all to roam again and again with every new work he published. His books have become staples in the upbringing of children everywhere, inviting them to dream big and think deep.
Read Across America has made incredible strides in getting the youth of yesterday, today, and tomorrow animated about reading and believing in the power of a great book. We can’t wait to see where the next 365 days of reading will take us.
After all, as Dr. Seuss once said, “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”
To learn more about the Read Across America initiative, head to the National Education Association website.