By Kirsten Mahon/tr news editor

To celebrate the birthday of the children’s writer and artist, TR’s library threw a birthday bash with 109 cupcakes commemorating the years since Theodor Seuss Geisel was born and his influence on the reading experiences of children across the world.

“It’s kind of a silly way to bring attention to a serious issue,” said TR library director Carol Everhart. “Tarrant County has a very poor reading level across the board.”

Everhart said the party March 2, part of a nationwide reading event, illustrated the importance of reading at an early age by encouraging partygoers to read a book to a child.

TR student workers Andy Vargas and Christina Hernandez said reading during childhood benefits children throughout their lives.

“You see things maybe other people can’t see and have a better perspective,” Vargas said. “Your imagination wanders, and you become creative. That’s what happened to me. Some people say it’s better than TV.”

Hernandez’s family is Cuban, and she learned Spanish as a child, but she never grasped the language because she didn’t read it.

“I believe if you read at a younger age, you learn faster and you broaden your perspective,” she said.

Both Hernandez and Vargas remember reading Seuss’ books as children.

Dr. Seuss wrote a number of early childhood works such as The Cat in the Hat, The Lorax, How The Grinch Stole Christmas and Green Eggs and Ham. His books are most known for their memorable rhymes and distinctive illustrations, done by Seuss himself as he originally studied to be an artist.

Seuss was 87 when he died in 1991. Six years later, America adopted his birthday as National Read Across America day and has celebrated his life each year since 1997. This was the first year TR Campus threw a birthday party in his honor.