Event on 2nd March

Form a good habit - Read with your kids.

What started as a one-day annual event in 1998 has become an initiative to celebrate the joy of reading for children every day. The single day was March 2, birthday of children's author Dr. Seuss. Millions of people observed the Read Across America event last week. It was again coordinated by the National Education Association and its 2.7 million educator members.

So now that the 102nd birthday of the late Theodor Seuss Geisel -- author of "The Cat in the Hat," "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" -- has come and gone, how do we keep the initiative going all year long, as Read Across America suggests?

You can read at home with your children, snuggling up together on the living-room couch with books from your personal collection or ones borrowed from the local library. Or you can participate in one of many reading programs and other events at local bookstores or public libraries. Consider these:

• Tonight, Hamilton East Public Library keeps the Dr. Seuss theme going by featuring a "Cat in the Hat" program at 7 p.m. at its Noblesville branch, 1 Library Plaza.

• Cool Creek Nature Center in Westfield will hold a Pajama Rama story time event at 7 p.m. Friday for families with children between the ages of 1 and 7. It's located at 2000 E. 151st St.

• Miss Spider Storytime is 10 a.m. today and Saturday at the Barnes & Noble bookstore in Noblesville, geared to preschoolers age 3-6. There's another storytime for children at 10 a.m. Friday. The store is located at 17090 Mercantile Blvd.

• Family story time is 7 p.m. Fridays at Barnes & Noble at 14709 U.S. 31 in Westfield. Mother Goose Story Time is 10 a.m. on Wednesdays at the same bookstore.

• The Wild has story time at 10:30 a.m. each Tuesday in downtown Noblesville at 92 S. Ninth St.
The Wild is the newest bookstore to arrive in Noblesville. It opened in October and has been so successful that it is about to move to a new, more visible location with more space for special events. It will celebrate its grand opening April 1 in the former location of Hey Little Diddle at 884 Logan St., also downtown.

In four months, the Wild has quickly become a Noblesville treasure, where kids can plop down on a tree-trunk chair and listen intently while adults read stories to them. Adding to the appeal are paper lanterns, stuffed animals, artwork and a roaming cat. What's not fun about that?

When children recognize that reading is fun, it becomes habit-forming and something they enjoy, especially when it's done in the midst of family members or other kids their age.

So keep the excitement in reading going. Your children and grandchildren will benefit from it their entire lives, and it will leave lasting impressions of important time spent with you.