The things you can learn
The little delights in life are often brought about through children. A daily dose of snuggling with a child to read a favorite story or explore a new one can turn around even the dreariest day. Ideally, every child would be brought up in a home filled with books that open little minds and fill them with curiosity to learn more. Sadly, that doesn’t always occur. There are plenty of kids in Fayette County who don’t have books of their own, who don’t know the pleasure of bedtime stories and who are often behind other kids on entering kindergarten. The Head Start program, along with the Uniontown Kiwanis Club, recognizes the importance of reading and attempts once a year to celebrate by joining the Read Across America program.
One day each year is set aside to celebrate the birthday of Theodor Seuss Geisel, known affectionately by many generations of kids as Dr. Seuss. Volunteer readers drop by the Head Start classes, to read a story or two. And the kids are given a book to take home, too. The Kiwanis should be commended for their effort to cultivate young readers.
With so much of a selection of great children’s books, including Dr. Seuss’s many titles, no kid could ever claim that reading is boring. In fact, that is just what sent Geisel down the path of children’s literature. Following a report that concluded children were having trouble reading because their books were boring, Geisel was inspired to take 220 words essential to first-graders, rhyme them and turn them into “The Cat in the Hat.”
Dr. Seuss’s books are entertaining, sometimes silly, sometimes insightful. Think about the lengths one will go to avoid something without even trying it, as in “Green Eggs and Ham,” or of a child’s book “Oh, the Places You’ll Go” that is just as appropriate a gift upon graduation. Most importantly, his works provide a great launching off point for developing young readers.
While boring is no longer an impediment to beginning readers, poverty often is. But money shouldn’t stand in the way of books and learning and dreams. Fayette County might be poor but it has a vast wealth waiting on the shelves of community libraries.