Schools across Missouri celebrate reading
and Dr. Seuss’s birthday next week

From coast to coast and across Missouri, readers young and old will be joining in celebrations of reading during the week of March 2, the birthday of noted children’s author Theodore Geisel—better known as Dr. Seuss. Dr. Seuss’ birthday provides the perfect opportunity for schools, families and teachers to celebrate the joy of reading, according to the Missouri National Education Association. NEA’s Read Across America is the nation’s largest reading party, an annual extravaganza that attracts millions to honor the joy and importance of reading.

Highlighting this year’s Missouri celebration is a week-long tour by the larger-than-life Cat in the Hat—a favorite Dr. Seuss character who wears a distinctive red-and-white-striped hat. The Cat in the Hat will visit thirteen schools across the state and the University of Missouri Children’s Hospital in Columbia. Greg Jung, president of the Missouri National Education Association, will accompany and chauffeur the cat, reading books to kids at each stop on the tour Feb. 28-March 4.

“There’s no skill more important to our children’s future than the ability to read,” says Jung, a fifth-grade teacher in the Ritenour School District in St. Louis County. “Even before young children can read, they can appreciate the joy of a good book when an adult reads to them. That makes NEA’s Read Across America a celebration that young readers, old readers and those who are still too young to read can enjoy together.”

Missouri NEA coordinates NEA’s Read Across America activities in the Show-Me State, providing bookmarks, posters and game books by the thousands to public schools and libraries in Missouri.

This year’s Read Across America is the eighth annual national celebration of reading engaging actors, singers, athletes and politicians, as well as teachers, students and families in day-time and nighttime reading activities and events. National Football League superstars Tiki Barber of the New York Giants and his twin brother Ronde Barber of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are co-captains of this year’s event.

Last year, more than 45 million adults and children participated in reading events that ranged from green-eggs-and-ham breakfasts and pajama parties to reading extravaganzas. For a sampling of Read Across America events taking place in Missouri, go to www.nea.org/readacross/contacts.

MNEA represents 32,000 teachers and education support professionals in public schools and on college campuses across the state. It is the Missouri affiliate of the 2.7 million-member National Education Association, the nation’s largest association of educators.

Schedule of Missouri’s Read Across America Cat Tracks tour,
along with contact information for each site

For further information:
Carol K. Schmoock
573-634-3202

February 24, 2005