Ian Audatko, a student at Washington School, stood at the door dressed in a tall red and white striped hat, his face painted white and his clothing straight out of The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss.
Audatko and with the rest of his schoolmates celebrated the famed children’s author on March 1, when Mayor Joseph Doria joined students and teachers to do a campfire reading of Dr. Seuss’ works.
The school hallways were decorated with relevant pictures and signs. When asked directions to where the reading would take place, Principal Peter Anastas pointed to the wall and a long, long paper tail taped to it. “Just follow the tail,” he said.
Washington School, along with most of the other elementary schools in Bayonne, was taking part in a nationwide celebration of reading call “Read Across America,” which marked the birthday of Theodore Seuss Geisel, more popularly known at Dr. Seuss.
Geisel, who authored more than 50 children’s books before his death in 1991, reportedly added the “Dr.” to his pseudonym to please his father who always wanted a doctor in the family, and he has become perhaps the most popular children’s author of all time.
His first book, “And To Think I Saw It On Mulberry Street,” was published in 1937, after which he went on to publish 48 books in 20 different languages. But he is best know for books such as “The Cat in the Hat,” “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas” and “Green Eggs and Ham.”
A graduate of Dartmouth and Oxford, Geisel pursued a career in cartooning and became an outspoken critic about the lack of quality in children’s reading books. He emphasized the joy of reading over the lessons of such tales. He believed people should read to children in order to get them to hear the words, not merely as a phonics lesson. Kids should also have a say in what they want to read, even if it is the same book over and over again. Kids should also have time to read, but not merely as homework.
His approach to reading helped alter the way reading is taught.
Read, read, read
In Washington School, students, teachers and administrators all wore T-shirts celebrating the author, promoting the nationwide literacy event for which he has become a symbol.
Read Across America began in New Jersey with a New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) member who organized a “birthday bash” to honor Dr. Seuss. The National Education Association picked up the idea. With the support of the National Council of Teachers of English and the International Reading Association – and celebrities from the worlds of sports, entertainment, politics and publishing – Read Across America has become a national event.
In anticipation of Mayor Doria’s arrival, Maar Dagostino, Steven Granados and Christian Alfonso handed out crayons for the younger students who would soon take part in the campfire reading.
While the mayor was the featured reader, he was not alone. Students in the seventh and eighth grade took up stations outside a number of pup tents where they had a selection of Dr. Seuss books to read.
Seventh grader Dana Walcott and eighth graders Christopher Villavicencio, Charles Ackerly, and Anthony Bell all got ready to read.
“We read the books to the students from lower grades,” said Ackerly.
Although some students said they had no favorite, most claimed “Cat in the Hat” or “Green Eggs and Ham” as their favorite.
Mayor Doria, who frequently reads these books to his own daughter, brought his own volume of “Green Eggs and Ham.”
But Washington School was only one of Bayonne’s elementary schools paying tribute to the author and promoting reading with presentations of Dr. Seuss’ books.
Giant visits Horace Mann
At Horace Mann, rookie New York Giants running back Ryan Grant came to the school to read for the kids. Although born in New York, Grant attended schools in New Jersey and was named the New Jersey Player of the Year in 2000 by USA Today after playing at Don Bosco Prep High School in Ramsey.
He told the students he read for that he often read.
“I read a lot,” he said, “and I liked school.”
Grant said that he worked hard at school and was still close to some of the teachers who had helped him along the way. When he asked some of the kids what they wanted to do when he grew up, Manny Miranda said, “I want to be a New York Giant.”
Grant received T-shirts from the Bayonne Fire Department and Horace Mann School as gifts of thanks for doing the reading.
Michael Petrakian, of the Bayonne Fire Department, helped in the presentation, saying he went to Horace Mann, and had three kids attending the school
Principal Charles Costello said this was boon for the reading program.
“We tell kids to read, read read,” he said. “Reading is key to all of the other subjects. We brought Mr. Grant here to help us reinforce the message.”