Who Was Dr. Seuss? Why Read Across America Day Falls on His Birthday

Read Across America Day was launched in 1998 by the National Education Association ( NEA ). It is a day to encourage children and teenagers to read and falls annually on March 2, which is besides Dr. Seuss ‘ birthday. When the day was foremost established, it was synonymous with the children ‘s author. Dr. Seuss was born Theodor Seuss Geisel on March 2, 1904. Despite never having children himself, Dr. Seuss is one of America ‘s most celebrated youth authors. He wrote more than 60 books, with some of his most celebrated works including The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham. Dr. Seuss died in 1991, seven years before Read Across America Day was first base celebrated. At the time, Bob Chase, then-NEA president, said : “ We are calling for every child in every school in every community to be in the company of a book on Read Across America Day, in celebration of Dr. Seuss ‘s birthday. ”

The platform, he added, “ provides an excellent opportunity to work with parents and others in our communities to make a dispute in the lives of our students. ” Chase besides said : “ People of all ages love Dr. Seuss. He epitomizes a beloved of children and learning. Read Across America Day is in truth one of the largest celebrations of literacy this nation has. Dr. Seuss would be gallant. ” however, in late years, the NEA has distanced itself from promoting Dr. Seuss entirely to encourage children to read a divers range of books. A statement on the NEA web site explains why Read Across America Day is no longer tied entirely to The Cat in the Hat writer : “ There ‘s a growing motivation for schools and libraries to include and promote divers books. “ Students need books that provide both windows and mirrors if we are going to create more readers, writers, and people who feel included and recognized, and who understand that the worldly concern is far richer than equitable their experiences alone. “ NEA recognizes the want to work with a more divers array of organizations and publishers to fulfill this want, and the Read Across America brand is now one that is independent of any one especial book, publisher, or fictional character. ” Read Across America Day being distanced from Dr. Seuss gained attention on Monday when President Joe Biden omitted the children ‘s generator from his proclamation.

In Biden ‘s Read Across America Day proclamation, he said : “ The key to developing young learners into engaged, active, and innovative thinkers is instilling in them a love of reading at an early historic period. reading is the gateway to countless skills and possibilities—it sets children on the path to a life of discovery. “ On this Read Across America Day, we celebrate the parents, educators, librarians, and other champions of reading who help launch our Nation ‘s children on that critical way. ” however, Biden did not mention Dr. Seuss by name. Former President Barack Obama mentioned Dr. Seuss in each of his proclamations for Read Across America Day, like in 2009, Obama said : “ On Read Across America Day, we spouse with the National Education Association and mark the birthday of Theodor Geisel, whose beloved Dr. Seuss books still inspire children throughout the world to read. ” Former President Donald Trump ended his understand Across America Day proclamations with quotes from Dr. Seuss from 2018-2020, but did not mention that the day was linked to the writer ‘s birthday in any of his proclamations. In 2017, former First Lady Melania Trump celebrated the day by reading Dr. Seuss to children in hospital. In 2020, Trump said : “ On this Read Across America Day, we recall the motivational words of Dr. Seuss—an American icon of literature—and impart his wisdom on our nation ‘s young people : ‘You ‘re off to Great Places ! nowadays is your day ! Your batch is waiting, thus … get on your room ! ‘ ”
The NEA cites wanting children to read more diverse books as a cause behind no longer entirely celebrating Dr. Seuss on March 2, and holocene years have raised issues in the depiction of race in his books.

A 2019 study, titled “ The Cat is Out of the Bag : orientalism, Anti-Blackness, and White Supremacy in Dr. Seuss ‘s Children ‘s Books, ” found that the huge majority of Dr. Seuss ‘ homo characters are flannel and that those who are n’t are depicted with racist undertones. The report finds that : “ In the fifty Dr. Seuss children ‘s books, 2,240 homo characters are identified. Of the 2,240 characters, there are forty-five characters of color representing two percentage of the total act of homo characters. ” The reputation besides found that of the colored characters, “ Males of color are only presented in subservient, exotified, or dehumanized roles, ” and that there is an absence of women and girls of coloring material .

source : https://gametracker.one
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