VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Schools across the country will celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday Monday with "Read Across America Day."
Kempsville Meadows Elementary School in Virginia Beach is marking the occasion by decorating the hallways with pages from various Dr. Seuss books.
The day also marks the start of National Reading Month.
13News Now spoke with Kellee Kraft, the librarian at Arrowhead Elementary School in Virginia Beach, about the importance of reading.
“I think that reading is the most important thing we learn in school,” said Kraft. “If you don’t catch a kid by the time they’re out of elementary school and develop them into a reader, the chances are not real great that that’s going to happen later on."
With technology becoming more prevalent in schools, we asked Kraft if she sees physical libraries having a future in local schools. She said absolutely, at least in elementary schools.
“Kids need to have their hands on a physical book, they need to be able to see the words and yes, you can do that on a piece of electronics but it’s not the same as actually having those pages and being to hold that and share that with a parent or friend or whoever,” Kraft said. “When you get to high school, I think the libraries tend to be more – and I’m generalizing here – tend to be more research-oriented so it’s not as much the kids are reading for fun. In those cases, yes you might see a lot of it go towards electronics.”
Kraft was named the Virginia Association of School Librarian's York Regional "Librarian of the Year" in 2019.