Barbara Bush reads Dr. Seuss to first graders kicking off "National Read Aloud Month"
Nakia Cooper
Brandon Walker, Reporter
HOUSTON – Former first lady Barbara Bush read "Green Eggs and Ham" and "The Cat in the Hat" by Dr. Seuss to first graders at Walnut Bend Elementary School to kick off National Read Aloud Month.
The celebratory kick-off event took place on the 112th birthday of Dr. Seuss.
"Reading aloud is the single most important thing we can do to make sure a child learns how to read," said Dr. Julie Baker Finck, president, Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation.
Featured speakers discussed the importance of reading aloud to a child for at least 15 minutes a day and shared an array of free literacy awareness programs, events and activities that will be taking place throughout the month. In addition, employees from Phillips 66 read Dr. Seuss books to students in over 20 classrooms.
To increase awareness about the literacy crisis that exists in the Houston community, an official public service announcement featuring Bush and NBA Star Dwight Howard of the Houston Rockets was premiered at the event.
These two champions of literacy recently met on the basketball court to film engaging videos where they are hoping to "slam dunk" low literacy by calling upon the community to become a game-changer in the life of a child by reading aloud and volunteering at a school, library or nonprofit organization.
"Did you know that four out of five children in Houston, do not have the proper reading skills by the fourth grade," Howard asks in the video.