Sharing the joy of a good book

Suzie Harrison

Key-slapping slippards, the Lorax and Sam are just some of the

characters children become involved with all because of Dr. Seuss and

his celebration of words.

As part of a nationwide celebration Tuesday, Christy Montes’

fifth-grade class at El Morro Elementary School participated in the

National Education Assn.’s “Read Across America” program. This year

was especially exciting -- the event culminates each year on Theodore

Geisel’s, who wrote the Dr. Seuss series, birthday. This year hit the

100 mark or “Seussentennial.”

The event started in 1998 as a way to get children excited about

reading. Montes’ class got creative for the event.

“They chose their favorite story and recreated a book jacket,”

Montes said.

Additionally, the class formed small groups and created a large

board that included illustrations and information about Dr. Seuss.

Montes said they learned about his two Academy Awards, that he

really wasn’t a doctor, how that prefix started and his political

side.

“His political cartoons have a lot of value,” Montes said. “They

took us back to the Great Depression that his family lived through.”

Though the class was enjoying the class party for Seuss, including

games, treats and merriment, they said they also had a great time

creating their individual book jacket.

Brigitte Naughton, 11, said she feels his stories are still

pertinent today.

“They still bring joy and laughter to children and adults all over

the world,” Brigitte said.

She chose “Green Eggs and Ham” because she thought it was a really

creative and original book.

“The message was that even though something might not look very

appealing -- you should at least try it,” Brigitte said.

“I picked ‘I Am Not Getting Up Today’ because I used to say that

every day when I was younger,” Emily Writer, 10 said.

She said she enjoyed the process of writing, learning about Dr.

Seuss and decorating the jacket.

Kirk Knott, 10, picked “Fox in Sox” because it is full of tongue

twisters and words that are hard to say. He explained for his

artistic gesture he used tracing paper and put it over the fox on the

book cover, pasted onto his piece and colored it in.

“I did a summary and did quotes about what newspapers would say

about my book,” Knott said. “I learned what college he went to and

that his wife was his editor.”