Today (March 2, 2018) is the day that the NEA (National Education Association) has designated as Read-Across-America day. (Also Dr Seuss’s birthday.) A celebration of READING. A celebration that I vehemently, and wholeheartedly join in! I’ve reprinted their “Declaration of Reading Independence.” Check it out!

 

Declaration of Reading Independence

(More about NEA Read Across America — Click HERE)

We hold this truth to be self-evident that all children have

the right to read. If we don’t secure this right, too many of

our children are likely to lead lives of quiet, or not so quiet,

despair.

To secure this right, every adult has a role to play. As people

who teach America’s children, we will craft our lessons

carefully. As parents, we will show our children a quieter,

more meaningful way. As members of the American family,

we will care for other people’s children as our own.

On this day of fireworks and fun, we pause to dream

together. We dream of a day when all children know their

ABCs before they come to school. We dream of a day when

all third graders are reading to learn rather than learning to

read. We dream of a day when every American teenager

knows the joy of being swept away by the powerful prose of

a good book.

And so, we the people who teach America’s children do

solemnly swear that we will not rest until our children are the

best readers in the world. As a first step toward this goal, we

hereby commit to celebrate reading March 2nd, the

birthday of Dr. Seuss, the man whose poetry and play has

led so many children to reading independence.

–By Anita Merina