Last Monday, March 2, was Dr. Seuss's birthday and Read Across America Day. An elementary school in Ashburn VA had booked me almost a year in advance for that date. As fate would have it, it snowed the day before and school was cancelled for March 2nd.
Thankfully, we rescheduled for Monday March 9th. I was able to present three assemblies at the school all on the books and stories of Dr. Seuss. The photo at the top of the page gives you an idea of what my stage set-up looks like. My two tables are draped with custom made Dr. Seuss covers. This is actually the set-up from a couple years ago. I still use the custom draped table covers, but there are more props involved in the show.
New this year has been the story, Horton and the Kwuggerbug. Everyone loves Horton, but until
recently, I only thought there were two Horton stories, Horton Hatches the Egg and Horton Hears a Who. Turns out, that in between those two books was Horton and the Kwuggerbug, but it never got published into bookform. So a few months ago, this story and a few other 'lost' Seuss stories made their way into a book by the same title.
The image to the right is a painting of a Beezlenut Tree, the tree which is the focus of the story about Horton and this shifty Kwuggerbug. This is actually the conclusion of the routine. It starts with the image of only the tree and then the bug and Horton's trunk appear on the picture. I really like sharing new stories with audiences who think they know everything there is to know about Dr. Seuss. I always have people (students, teachers, and other adults) come up to me and tell me they learned something new about Dr. Seuss in the course of my show.
Horton and the Kwuggerbug Book also contains a number of 'Lost Stories'. One is about the boy Marco, who often appears in Dr. Seuss stories. AND this book has the very first GRINCH story, except, this original Grinch is far far different from the one who appeared in How The Grinch Stole Christmas.
Last year, I featured The Sneetches story along with other stories in my show. The Sneetches is a great story but I found it to be rather difficult to effectively illustrate with magic. I like to tell the stories from the books using magic. I had created several different Sneetch routines over the years, but none made it into my show because I didn't feel it was quite right. Then suddenly, I stumbled upon the solution. It was so great because the idea allowed me to share the basic story with the kids and have fun with the magic at the same time. I was quite proud of the outcome.
I have been asked if I will do another new Reading Assembly with a Seuss theme next year? I can't answer the question at the moment. I had originally planned on stopping with 2015. But I've since found a couple more stories that I know will translate wonderfully into magic routines and allow me to share with kids and teachers. For me the real reason behind this is to encourage kids to read. By sharing the stories of Dr. Seuss and other fun facts about the stories it helps to peak the interests of the kids and they then want to find the books and read them for themselves. The key to reading when you're young is to be interested in the material. IF you are not interested, no amount of forcing will turn a kid into a reader. Trust me, I know, I was one of those kids with terrible reading comprehension. I could read the same paragraph a dozen times and not recall what I read. Then one day I found magic and reading about magicians changed the way I thought about reading. Now I love to read books of all kinds. And because I missed so many of the great Dr. Seuss stories as a kid, I can now enjoy them fully and help others to find enjoyment in them as well.
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