The joy of Seuss and of reading to children

When I talked with Amy Popik from The News-Herald about Read Across America, we mentioned who read Dr. Seuss to us when we were kids. For me, it was my grandma; for her, her mom.

Now, the actual who doesn't matter so much. It can be an older sibling, parent, cousin, teacher, neighbor, whomever. What matters is that somebody read to us.

And that sort of connection is generational. I share the joy of reading with my child in part because someone shared it with me. And if you hang around long enough at the library, you'll see parents that used to be story-time children reading to their own kids.

And while we love to celebrate Seuss, we don't just celebrate his birthday because of his characters, illustrations, rhymes or even the morals that stay true no matter how old you get. (A person is still a person, no matter how small.) We celebrate Seuss because he shared the joy of reading with so many, and he'll continue to do so for generations to come.

Terri, one of our MPL Board members, reads to the children during a special Seuss story time at our Headlands Branch.

So we hope you joined us for Dr. Seuss's birthday on Monday. We hope you made a candy Cat-in-the-Hat at our Lake Branch, played Seuss-pendous birthday games at our Headlands Branch, or learned the "Green Eggs & Ham" song from Seussical at our Main Branch.

But if you couldn't join us Monday, there's an easy way to make up for it.

Read. Read to someone you love.

If you're looking for suggestions, I like The Lorax and Yertle the Turtle, but it doesn't need to be my favorites. It doesn't even have to be Dr. Seuss.

Just read. It's a beautiful gift to give to anyone. And when the opportunity comes, I know whomever you read to will pass that gift along.

Linsay makes her own Cat-in-the-Hat hat at Mentor Library.

For more photos from our Dr. Seuss birthday party, check out Mentor Library's Facebook page.