Published: March 03, 2009 12:02 am      

Schools embrace Seuss

Crabbe Elementary enjoys book, imagination

ASHLAND — Monday was the day when everyone likes green eggs and ham.



The oddly colored breakfast was served up with side orders of fun and nonsense at Crabbe Elementary School to celebrate Read Across America Day.

The students spent part of their day hanging out with the Cat in the Hat, Thing One and Thing Two, and Sam I Am and laughing at the same goofy stories that introduced their parents to reading a generation ago.

Read Across America Day is a yearly occasion that coincides with the birthday of Theodore Geisel, the author better known as Dr. Seuss. As its name suggests, schools across the country devote a few hours to reading the stories that Seuss crafted from a few simple words and in the process got children hooked on books.

“Kids love that it’s nonsensical,” said Traci Fannin, whose son Lachlan is in kindergarten at Crabbe. “Anything is possible. They relate to that.”

Fannin showed up at Crabbe with painted-on whiskers, a plush black and white costume and the Cat in the Hat’s trademark red and white striped hat. She mingled with children in the cafeteria during lunch and then visited first-graders to read “The Cat in the Hat Comes Back.”

Fannin read it flanked by two other Seuss characters, Thing One and Thing Two, portrayed by Kennedy and Kassedy Baier. Kennedy and Kassedy are both 4; their mother Sharon helped them with their costumes and brought them to school where their brother Keagan is a student.

Baier’s children are all Seuss freaks. “They love books that rhyme,” she said. The rhymes, she believes, are the secret of the Seuss appeal, because they help children pick out the words.

Devoting a day to the love of reading embeds the importance of books at a young age, according to school librarian Susan Qualls. “We make it a point to expose the children to a lot of good literature as soon as they hit our doors,” she said.

She believes Seuss resonates with children because “he probably was a little bit of a kid himself. If he couldn’t think of a word that rhymed, he made one up. Kids can sense his enjoyment.”

Also appearing at Crabbe was parent Tim Pack as Sam I Am, the persuasive protagonist of Green Eggs and Ham. He read his namesake story to kindergartners.

MIKE JAMES can be reached at mjames@dailyindependent.com or at (606) 326-2652.