Burnet students celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday with reading event
Last year’s Dr. Seuss reading event included volunteers from Burnet High School’s Class of 2024: Baylor Dawes, Kayci Banton, and Jace Haberer. All three students volunteered alongside Darlene Denton (Cat in the Hat). Photo courtesy of Darlene Denton
The Cat in the Hat and other whimsical characters will bring Dr. Seuss’ imaginative worlds to life at elementary schools in Burnet and Bertram from Feb. 25-March 7. The two-week reading event celebrates the famous children’s author’s birthday, a 22-year tradition for the Burnet Consolidated Independent School District.
The BCISD Parent Resource Center program will include around 1,700 students at Bertram, Shady Grove, and R.J. Richey elementary schools. It is spearheaded by Parent Liaison Darlene Denton, who has grown the initiative from a small event into a district-wide celebration, inspired, in part, by the National Education Association’s Read Across America.
“I started this because I wanted every child to know the joy of reading,” Denton said. “Dr. Seuss has such a unique way of making books fun and engaging. I wanted kids to experience that magic and see that reading is more than just schoolwork—it’s an adventure.”
The program relies on community involvement. Guest readers from Burnet and the surrounding areas visit the three campuses, each bringing their unique background to the table.
“We bring in people from the community—doctors, bilingual readers, business owners, public servants—all to share their love of reading with students,” Denton said. “My goal every year is to help guest readers pick a book that isn’t as well known. It’s a way for both kids and adults to discover new stories.”
Readers often dress up as classic Seussian characters, including the Cat in the Hat and the Grinch. Every student gets a goodie bag with bookmarks, stickers, and themed treats, including special “green eggs and ham” cookies made by volunteers. One student from each class also wins a Dr. Seuss book to take home.
“The community really comes together and pours their heart and time into it,” said longtime volunteer Monica Beierle.
The event doesn’t just focus on the famous rhymes and enduring stories of Dr. Seuss, who was born Theodor Seuss Geisel on March 2, 1904, in Massachusetts, and died on Sept. 24, 1991, from cancer. Denton also shares Geisel’s personal struggles to inspire students.
“As a kid, Dr. Seuss was bullied because of his German heritage after (World War II). His high school art teacher told him he’d never make it because he didn’t draw realistically. His Dartmouth classmates even voted him ‘Least Likely to Succeed,’” Denton said. “Then, when he tried to publish his first book, he was rejected by publishers 27 times because his characters were too strange, and people didn’t believe his style would work.”
Dr. Seuss almost gave up, but, after a chance meeting with a friend, his first book was published in 1937. It wasn’t until 20 years later, in 1957, that he became famous with “The Cat in the Hat” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”
“It’s a lesson in persistence,” Denton said. “I tell the kids: ‘If you believe in something with all your heart, you need to keep working at it.’”
Volunteers for the BCISD reading celebration hope it also persists.
“It’s a really, really great program,” Beierle said. “I hope after Darlene leaves, somebody will continue on with this great tradition that she has created.”