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KNEA’s Read Across America Day is March 3

From Seussville to Who-ville and Oh, those many great places in between, the Cat in the Hat will help put reading on the map!  The 11th annual Read Across America Day—the party with a purpose that gets kids of every age excited about reading—is expected to draw more than 45 million participants on Monday, March 3.

Here in Kansas, the NEA Cat-A-Van is helping to put reading on the map.  NEA Executive Committee members Mike Billirakis and Paula Monroe will visit schools in Wichita and Topeka. Each school library will receive a cash donation plus a visit from The Cat, books and hats.

KNEA again is partnering with Cox Communications for a "web cast" that features Governor Kathleen Sebelius reading a book to 10,000 students across Kansas. 2008 KNEA Reading Poster winner, Rachel Schwartzbeck, a 5th grader from Andover, will be with Gov. Sebelius for the Web Cast.

See more about KNEA's Reading Poster Contest and winners

“When children open the pages of a good book, reading can ignite their imaginations and open the doors to a reading wonderland,” said KNEA President Blake West.  “Whether it’s a thrilling mystery or a fantasy set in a land far, far away, find a nook, a good book and be in the company of your favorite child on Read Across America Day.” 

Visit  www.nea.org/readacross for more reading tips, book lists and information on local events happening nationwide.  For Kansas teacher-recommended reading, go to the KNEA Reading Circle Catalogue.

Photos, video footage, public service announcements and other Seuss-tastic downloads are available to the media by contacting NEA Public Relations at (202) 822-7823 or newsdeadline@nea.org.

Revving up their engines, three Cat-A-Van tours will hit the road to bring the gift of reading to thousands of schoolchildren. The midwest tour includes Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri. Covering more than 1,200 miles and visiting more than 18 cities, the tours will provide an estimated 12,000 books and thousands of cash grants to public schools and their libraries through a generous donation from NEA’s Books Across America.  Launched in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma, Books Across America provides books and cash grants to public schools in need.  More details on the program are available at www.nea.org/booksacross.

But the reading fun doesn’t stop there!  The Cat-a-Van tours will travel to Florida for “Read Across Spring Training,” designed to bring reading fun to ballparks as Major League Baseball teams show they got game by hosting special read-ins for local children.

“Although children have many distractions like TV, video games and high-tech gadgets, nothing rivals the power of reading a good book,” said West.  “The challenge is cutting through the competitive clutter to get children energized about reading.  That’s why Read Across America has been so successful at cultivating a love of books for young readers—it makes reading just plain fun.”

NEA’s Read Across America—sponsored by the 3.2 million-member National Education Association, Dr. Seuss Enterprises, L.P., and more than 50 national partner organizations—is a year-round literacy campaign designed to motivate children to read by making it fun and culminates every year around the birthday of Dr. Seuss, the beloved children’s book author.

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