By Joe Hadsall
jhadsall@joplinglobe.com
Brandon McCoy didn’t mind dressing the part.
The Joplin High School junior dressed on Monday as the star of Dr. Seuss’ beloved children’s book “The Cat in the Hat.” He read to Joplin students in costume as part of Read Across America Day.
“It was fun, watching kids get excited about it,” McCoy said. “The only embarrassing part was when I went to the mall for lunch with the whiskers still on my face.”
Students at Duquesne Elementary School weren’t nearly as shy as McCoy read to them on Monday. Many volunteered to have the cat-like whiskers drawn on their faces.
The activities were part of the celebration, staged in honor of the legendary author’s birthday. Many Joplin schools, including Duquesne, Eastmorland, Emerson, Irving, McKinley and West Central elementaries, and Washington Education Center, put on special events Friday and Monday to celebrate reading.
Duquesne Principal Doug Adams said his pupils also celebrated by eating green eggs and ham — a culinary creation from the book of the same name. Community members also came to read Seuss books in classrooms.
“This is a day that helps get kids to read,” Adams said. “It’s also an opportunity for volunteers to read to kids. They have a lot of fun with it.”
Reading Seuss out loud gave McCoy a new appreciation for his work.
“It’s like reading them for the first time,” he said. “I read them slowly as a kid, but now I’m picking up on all the tongue twisters he put in there.”
