One of my favorite memories of you & me is the time I read your favorite book to your first grade class at Moharimet elementary school.

Each of your classmates was given the chance to bring in a guest reader… and out of all the possibilities, you picked me!  I was touched by this, and excited.  I felt very special and of course jumped at the chance.

It was a sunny Fall morning when the big day came.  On the walk toward your classroom, I saw your principal, Mr. Harrington.  I hadn’t seen him in years!  He was the principal at the elementary school your Dad attended when he was a kid. We talked for awhile and I reminded him of the classes I used to teach – voluntarily – on President John F. Kennedy (JFK).  Principal Harrington has always been a big fan of his.  He joined me one year as we drove down to and visited the JFK library in South Boston along with your Dad and the kids in the JFK class.  I remember buying Mr. Harrington a small bust of JFK for his desk.

As I entered your classroom, you came running over.  I met your teacher and the woman who heads up the PTO.  They explained everything and then you showed me around.

When it came time to read, you sat right next to me.  I was glad my butt fit on the teeeny-tiny chair – ha!

Your favorite book was one I hadn’t ever read. Amazing because I thought I had read most of the Dr. Seuss books!  It’s called “The Sneetches,” and it was written in 1961 when I was eight years old.

The story is about plain belly sneetches and star belly sneetches.  The Star belly sneetches think they’re special, and better, than everyone else.  They don’t talk to each other and don’t get along.  But by the end of the book, everything reverses and the sneetches realize it’s a silly thing and not the right way to act, or be.   They learn to get along and all become friends.

Later on when I did my research, I learned Dr. Seuss wrote the book to make a statement about prejudice and the disconnect between various races and cultures.

What a great lesson to teach! What a cool book to select as your favorite.

The next day I asked you if I had done an okay job reading and you told me:

yes, but most people don’t show the book as they read it like you did.  They just read it and look at the pictures.

That’s a great observation!  I wanted to take your classmates with us on the Sneetches journey to get them involved.  It definitely made it harder reading it that way!

Thanks for inviting me to your class Camden – that was such a fun thing to do.  It’s a moment I’ll always remember!