Washington, D.C. - March 8, 2004 - U.S. Representative Mike Doyle (PA-14) read a book by Dr. Seuss to students at Edison Elementary School in West Mifflin today as part of “Read Across America” events all across the country this week.

“Reading is one of the most important skills our children can learn,” Congressman Doyle said today. “Moreover, the love of reading is one of the most important gifts we can give them.”

Read Across America Day was started by the National Education Association in 1998 as a way to get children excited about reading. The Read Across America program provides teachers, parents, caregivers, and children with the resources and activities they need to keep reading on the calendar 365 days a year. The year-round Read Across America program culminates each year on or near March 2, Dr. Seuss’s birthday. Millions of people from all walks of life take time on this day to read to young people. The NEA estimates that 50 million people participated in Read Across America events this year.

Read Across America Day this year fell on Dr. Seuss’s 100th birthday, so many participants, Congressman Doyle included, read Dr. Seuss books to elementary school students. Congressman Doyle read “Green Eggs and Ham” to some of the students at Edison Elementary School.

“Dr. Seuss is an American classic,” Congressman Doyle observed, “Kids love his outrageous stories and his brilliant use of repetition, cadence and rhyme. Undoubtedly, many adult Americans owe their love of reading to their early exposure to his work. It’s only right that we share these treasures with the next generation.”

Earlier in the week, on March 1, Congressman Doyle read Dr. Seuss to students at the Washington School in Penn Hills.

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