“What is an author?” Indian Trial Elementary School principal Brian Ormsby asked students gathered in the gym for an all-school assembly on Monday, March 3, 2025.
“They write books!”
“Yes, they come up with an idea, they think things through, they write it all down and they share it with people in the world,” Mr. Ormsby explained.
The school’s assembly was to celebrate Read Across America Day, a National Education Association reading program launched in 1998 to encourage a love of reading. It’s celebrated on March 2 (or the closest school day) and coincides with the birthday of Dr. Seuss.
Indian Trail Elementary School Read Across America Assembly
For the past six years, retired music teacher and principal Michael Sandner has appeared at Indian Trail to read “The Cat in the Hat” as the titular character for Read Across America Day.
For 30 years of his career in education, Mr. Sandner would visit elementary schools in the Bethel School District as the Cat in the Hat. After retiring in 2019, he began visiting his granddaughter Piper’s kindergarten class at Indian Trail in character.
While Piper is now in fifth grade, and her younger sibling Parker is in fourth, and ‘The Cat in the Hat’ still visits Tammara Nelson’s kindergarten class every month to read a Dr. Seuss book.
After ‘The Cat’ had blown out a special birthday candle for Dr. Seuss’s 101st birthday, local author Megan Young read her book, “Kid and the Nothing-to-do Year,” with illustrations by Melissa Murakami. The book takes a young goat on a journey through Spokane throughout the seasons.
As Mrs. Young read about Kid’s explorations of the Big Red Wagon, Green Bluff, Manito Park, and other Spokane landmarks and activities, Mustangs in the audience gasped, “I’ve been there!”
After the story time, students ask questions like, “Is the story real?”
“Parts are real,” Mrs. Young explained. “The places Kid goes and the things he does are real. But you don’t see goats talk very often, do you? I created Kid in my head and now I get to share him with everyone.”
Mrs. Young and Ms. Murakami will be at Auntie’s Bookstore on Saturday, March 8, at 11 a.m. for a family story time and art activity.
Many SPS elementary schools hold special Read Across America and National Reading Month activities in March. Check out their social media to find the fun.