Former first lady Barbara Bush read “Green Eggs and Ham” and “The Cat in the Hat” by Dr. Seuss to first graders in Houston Wednesday to kick off National Read Aloud Month. The first lady has teamed up with Houston Rockets Center Dwight Howard in an initiative to combat the literacy crisis in the Houston community.
Bush read to the cutest little kids at Walnut Bend Elementary School to commemorate the 112th birthday of Dr. Seuss. And we must say, the kids read back to her and were SMART! Great job Walnut Bend!
“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.
Organizers stress 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 initiative, an official public service announcement featuring Bush and Howard was premiered at the event.
These two champions of literacy 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. They filmed a public service announcement announcing a call to duty.
During the shoot, Bush wore a custom Rockets jersey (with the number 41 of course), given to her by Howard, while he wore his home uniform.
Photo credit: Michelle Watson, Catchlight Group
“Dwight is a fun loving guy,” Neil Bush, Barbara’s son and the co-chair of the Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation, “And mom is about as witty as they come at the age of 90. They were very playful. It was so cute to see this shrinking little 90-year-old with this big, tall virile guy get along so well.”
Photo credit: Michelle Watson, Catchlight Group
“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.
Organizers are calling on volunteers to read to children throughout Houston. If you would like to help out, log on to www.connect4literacy.org.
Check out video of the 7-footer and the sweetest, cutest grandma the world has ever seen.
Other community leaders and businesses are also stepping up.
Legacy Community Health commemorated the day by reading aloud to pediatric patients and giving away hundreds of books. As one of the nation’s largest federally qualified health centers with deep roots in Houston, Legacy wants to help eliminate the area’s literacy crisis.
“Legacy realizes the importance of providing well-rounded care to our patients, and promoting early childhood literacy is part of that,” said Katy Caldwell, CEO of Legacy Community Health. “Whether it’s educating parents on the lifelong benefits to reading to their kids, or giving away thousands of books to our patients, Legacy must be part of the solution to Houston’s literacy challenge.”
Last year, Legacy created the Little Readers initiative, which gave away more than 7,300 books over four months for free to its patients.
