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Read Across America (Dr. Seuss Alternatives)
- Introduction
- Book Alternatives
- Read Across America suggestions
What is Read Across America?
Read Across America is a celebration of reading, generally associated with Dr. Seuss. It is celebrated on March 2nd, beloved children’s author-Dr. Seuss’s birthday.
HOWEVER, it has come to our attention that Theodore Geisel (Dr.Seuss) is racist.
You can find more information on that here:
- https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2019/02/26/695966537/classic-books-are-full-of-problems-why-cant-we-put-them-down
- https://www.dartmouth.edu/~hist32/History/S31%20-%20The%20Dark%20Side%20of%20Dr.%20Seuss.htm
- https://springfieldmuseums.org/about/dr-seuss-museum/dr-seuss-racist-controversy/
- https://medium.com/@heinemann/the-sneeches-are-problematic-88b18ab98253
Dr. Seuss Book Alternatives
So, before I get into some ideas for Read Across America, here are some alternatives to classics by Dr. Seuss.
How to Celebrate Read Across America
Book Battle
Class Book
Book Tasting
D.E.A.R
Write a Twist on a Classic Story
Create Bookmarks
Read Aloud
Research an Author
Book Battle
Students get to vote on their favorite book. Think March Madness bracket!
Class Book
Students write a book together in class, students can each write their own page on a topic.
Book Tasting
Have you ever done a food tasting? Same thing, but with books!
D.E.A.R
Drop Everything and Read! Random points throughout the day, stop, drop and READ! (:
Write a Twist on a Classic Story
Readers are writers and writers are readers. Take Cinderella, or a similar story and change it up!
Create Bookmarks
Get artsy with it! I like to print small pictures of book covers, glue them on a piece of paper, then laminate!
Read Aloud
Pretty self-explanatory, but make sure you include diverse books!
Research an Author
Research on author. Students can give presentations, create projects, Flipgrids, and more!
What activities are you doing for Read Across America?
I love this! I wish more people were moving away from Dr. Seuss, and hopefully your post will inspire others to do so!
Totally agree! Thankfully, my students are old enough to discuss the topic! We will be discussing his past together, whether people can change, if his books should still be appreciated and what-not! I hope others look into this as well and do not just celebrate him during this time, but rather literacy in itself.
It was horrifying to me to find our about Theodore Geisel, so I’m excited that I came across your post giving viable alternatives to the activities typically done for Read Across America week.
Not enough people are aware of his past, however it is starting to spread. I do believe he changed, but if it’s Read Across America, we should truly be READING ACROSS AMERICA and celebrating other stories and authors as well.
Thank you for your suggestions on alternatives to Dr. Seuss for Read Across America. With all the wonderful children’s literature available, we should expose our children to a range of authors with positive themes.
100% agree!