Pick Up a Book, Pass It Around for Read Across America

The 108th birthday of Ted "Dr. Seuss" Geisel will be celebrated Friday with the annual Read Across America event, a birthday party at UC San Diego, and the opening of a film based on one of his most popular children's books.

School district leaders and elected officials will read to students at campuses across San Diego this morning. Read Across America began in 1998, using Dr. Seuss stories to motivate children to read.

Locally, at 2:20 p.m. kindergarten students at will participate in a Seuss Parade. At 3 p.m. the will show a Dr. Seuss movie while guests can decorate their own cupcakes.

UC San Diego, the beneficiary of millions of dollars from Geisel and his
widow, Audrey, will hold a birthday party in his honor in front of the campus' main library, which bears his name. The school will serve 2,000 pieces of cake and the Teeny Tiny Pit Orchestra will perform songs from "The Cat in the Hat Songbook."

The library holds about 10,000 items in its Dr. Seuss collection, including original drawings, drafts of manuscripts, books, photos and other memorabilia.

A film based on Geisel's 1971 environmental morality tale, "The Lorax," opens at theaters nationwide today. In the book, a character called the Once-ler narrates the story of the harmful impact brought about by insatiable demand for Truffula trees.

The movie version features the voices of Taylor Swift, Zac Efron, Betty White, Danny DeVito, Ed Helms and Rob Riggle.

– City News Service contributed to this story.