‘Once you know how to read, you can go anywhere’: Nazareth library hosts Dr. Seuss Birthday Bash | Nazareth Area

NAZARETH, Pa. – Monday is “Read Across America Day” and one local library in Northampton County is throwing its fourth annual Dr. Seuss Birthday Bash.

69 News Reporter Sydney Kay was in Nazareth with what families need to know, ahead of the places they’ll go.

Holly Bennett, the Executive Director of the Memorial Library of Nazareth and Vicinity, said the National Education Association started Read Across America Day in 1989. She said the day is all about getting young kids to read and grow their love of reading.

The festivities will kick off at 10 a.m. and run until 1 p.m.

The library will have a dozen community readers come and read to kids as part of the Dr. Seuss Birthday Bash, Children’s Librarian Berry Steiner said. Nazareth’s mayor will pay the library a visit at 10 a.m. Monday.

The library’s ukelele orchestra will be playing songs during the event.

Nazareth High School basketball players and cheerleaders will lead a parade in the library to close out the festivities.

Upper Nazareth Township Supervisor William Bartlett said the township has supported the library for several years, with a library tax helping to finance it.

The library is “such an important community resource,” he said.

Library Board Member Becky Bartlett said she brought her son to the library when he was little. He loved Dr. Suess, and she wanted other kids in the community an opportunity to read his stories.

“Once you know how to read, you can go anywhere,” she said.

Bennett said the library serves Upper Nazareth Township, Lower Nazareth Township, the Borough of Nazareth, and Bushkill Township. It also includes members from across Northampton County. She said the library is a place where young people can come together, to learn life skills, to learn to read, and to have camaraderie.

A new program, “1,000 Books before Kindergarten,” aims to have kids read that many books with their caregivers before kindergarten, Bennett said. The Wagner Foundation is supporting the program.

“We love serving our community,” she said.

The library also offers tax preparation for seniors, college application help, and scholarship application help.