Amarillo celebrates Reading Across America
Storybridge of Amarillo held its second annual “Cat in the Hat March” to celebrate Read Across America Week Saturday at Heal the City in Amarillo.
Coinciding with Read Across America Day, a holiday established by the National Education Association (NEA) in 1998 this event was to help get kids excited about reading. Events like this occur each year on the birthday of beloved children’s book author Dr. Seuss.
The second annual parade was led by the Cat in the Hat as well as Thing 1 and Thing 2, who followed the Tascosa High School Drumline as they marched down historic Route 66 with families in tow, to celebrate the joy of reading.
Meghan Slater, marketing coordinator for Storybridge, a local organization committed to getting books into the hands of children in the Texas Panhandle, described the event's purpose.
“We want to celebrate literacy; we call this Read Across the Panhandle and we want to share the joy of reading with kids across the community,” Slater said. “This event is to bring everyone together to create a fun time for the children of the community and get more books in their hands. It was so great to see all of these people come out and support this event.”
Slater said they had at least 200 books to give to the community at the event.
“This is a memory that the kids will not forget; they will get to march with the real Cat in the Hat with Thing 1 and Thing 2,” Slater said. “When they think of Cat in the Hat, they will remember this event and this book as being associated with it. We want to keep kids excited about reading.”
This event was one of many nationwide to celebrate the Reading Across America Event. The Don Harrington Center also held reading events all day Saturday as staff read 'Lizards for Lunch: A Road Runners Tale' by Conrad Storad, Beth Neely and Don Rantz to children.
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Amarillo celebrates Reading Across America
