Today I'm thinking about how to warm up what feels quite cold right now.
The news on the date that marks Dr. Seuss' birth almost feels as weird as a frozen pool of water in Texas. Perhaps you've seen that some people are taking issue with some of his books. Even his own company has offered to stop selling some of the books that he wrote, in an attempt to do better. And I'm all for doing better. But I'm struggling with taking his name out of the Read Across Proclamation. Deleting his legacy, as if he didn't exist. We mustn't forget that Dr. Seuss did amazing things to advance the literacy of generations of kids. He worked tirelessly to get rhyming books and open-ended books to supplement what we were doing with our basal readers. He was an activist. Was he perfect? Nope. But who among us is? Do we all face being deleted? Cancelled? Wiped away? I continue to pray for discernment as we wrestle with the wrongdoings of the humans that we've revered as leaders in our history without snubbing their contributions to where we are today.
In keeping with the theme of activism, enter Earth Squad:
Today is the born-on date of this book that showcases
50 People Who Are Saving The Planet.
It includes singers, environmentalists, politicians.
It also features food activists, ocean activists, authors.
So many people, crusading for a cause.
Just check out at all of these eco-warriors.
It's so important that we put books like this
into the hearts and hands of our future so that
they can decide which causes that they
might want to champion.
Pair it with picture books like Winston of Churchill
Ask kids what this Hal Urban adage means to them:
What we permit, we promote.
Revisit the Dr. Seuss classic The Lorax.
Then make a bulletin board. I used this one years ago to get
kids thinking about global warming and its connection to kindness.
I have a 3-hour presentation on this theme that I'm
so excited to share in WI with the school counselors
there in November, provided we can travel again.
What cause might you be willing to become a warrior for and champion?
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