Joining in the Seuss Celebration: Read Across America Day on March 2

Straightening up our bookshelves was the perfect prelude to a week that celebrates reading.  Read Across America is a national event that kicks off this Tuesday, March 2, on the birthday of Dr. Seuss.  The official website for the week is here.

For links to a printable certificate of participation, a doorknob hanger, and a word search, you can go to this page on the Seussville.com website.  I'm planning for us to use all three of these free materials to augment the fun of reading our Dr. Seuss books.  We will also engage our sense of taste by sinking our teeth into some real green eggs and ham (check out my naturally green recipe here). Yum!

Enjoying the Books We Own

We will be devouring books by other favorite authors and illustrators as well.  Since I just arranged all of our childrens books on the shelves, I thought I'd share several more authors that we adore.  Shelf-by-shelf highlights include:

1.   Sandra Boynton, Eric Carle, Ruth Krauss
2.   Syd Hoff, Crockett Johnson, Arnold Lobel, Dr. Seuss
3.   Richard Scarry, Laura Ingalls Wilder
4.   Margaret Wise Brown, Jan Brett


Treasuring Library Books on Loan

Besides classic authors, I wanted to mention two recent reads we enjoyed that celebrate family life.  Kitchen Danceis a new book by Maurie J. Manning which shows the joy of a loving couple in their kitchen.  They eventually welcome their children into the fun.

Last month my daughter brought home The Seven Silly Eatersby Mary Ann Hoberman.  We loved the plot, plus it featured a larger family with seven children.  Families with more than two or three children are a rarity in most illustrated books; I want my children to see that healthy families come in many sizes.

I hope you will take a few minutes to search some bookshelves and read to a child this week. The moments I spend with a book in hand and a child on my lap are some of the sweetest of the day.  We should do it more often, and this week I am determined that we will!