Writer with no hat reads back

LOLITA HARPER

I will read to them in a house. I will read to them with a mouse.

I could and would read in a box. I could and would read with a

fox.

I loved the classes of White and Phan;I loved to read to them, Sam

I am.

This week was Read Across America week for the Newport-Mesa

Unified School District -- seven days dedicated to making literature

a top priority by encouraging parents, or other adults, to show

children by example that reading is fun.

And who had more fun with books and words than the author of the

Dr. Seuss series, Theodore Geisel? It is for this reason that Random

House and the National Education Assn. chose his birthday, March 2,

to be Read Across America day. Apparently the officials here thought

it was such a great idea, they stretched it out over the entire week.

And I was lucky enough to be invited to read to children by

Katrina Foley, who has more titles than we have space -- but here

they are: Costa Mesa Planning Commissioner, attorney, wife, mother

and the coordinator for Read Across America at Sonora Elementary

School.

I signed up to read to two classes for 15 minutes each.

So, on Wednesday, I walked through the door of Peggy Phan’s class

and the smiling faces of the children greeted me from under large,

red and white striped hats made of construction paper. They were

crowded around the teacher, who was cooking up some green eggs and

ham.

“Class, our reader is here,” Phan said.

“Aww...” the class responded in unison.

“But our green eggs and ham are going to get cold,” one boy said.

One by one, they stomped off with slouched shoulders and

out-turned lower lips.

Boy, talk about a tough crowd. How was I going to compete with

green eggs and ham?

Despite their reluctance to stop their festivities, these

5-year-olds were an incredible audience. I read them “Green Eggs and

Ham,” and the children joined me in saying the recurring line, “I do

not like them Sam I am.”

They were adorable. And so excited to read. It was awesome.

As cute as those tykes were, the best part of my day was in

Marjorie White’s class. White teaches English as a Second Language.

And while I was there, two groups of no more than five children came

in for their instruction. I read “Cat in the Hat” to the first group,

who were around the ages of 6 and 7. It was one of their favorite

books, they said, and as I was reading, they told me what would

happen on the next page. They were so into it.

The second group of children was older, 8 and 9, and a little

rowdier. We read “Fox in Socks,” which -- for those of you who are

unfamiliar with it -- is the hardest book in the world to read. It is

full of tongue twisters and rhyming gobbledygook. I tripped over the

words at least a dozen times and the children had a good laugh.

White asked me to read on more -- “Hop on Pop” -- because it had

easier words and the children could actually read along. She seemed

very proud of the strides her students were making.

“Joanna has been in this country since September and she can

already read,” White said. “She is doing really well.”

I agreed and picked up the 50-plus-page book. We read it together

and laughed. The words were large enough for the children to read

from their seats and identify shared root sounds, such as pop, hop,

top and flop. Seuss was a genius. We identified what stayed the same

in each word and how changing just one letter could change the whole

word.

The kids went around the table and each read a page. Jasmine was

confronted with the tough sounds of “talk” and “walk,” on her page.

“Oh, that may be a little tough,” White said.

But Jasmine did not back down. It took a split second longer but

she sounded it out and read her page as well as her colleagues. She

beamed. I beamed. Everyone was proud of her, and themselves. It was

amazing.

My morning at Sonora was one of the best assignments I’ve had.

Thanks to Foley for inviting me. Thanks to Phan and White for sharing

their students with me. Thanks to Seuss for providing such fun

reading material. And most of all, thanks to the children, who

reminded me how gratifying reading is.

* LOLITA HARPER is the community forum editor. She also writes

columns Wednesdays and Fridays. She may be reached at (949) 574-4275

or by e-mail at lolita.harper@latimes.com.