Tomorrow, they march. Today, they read.

In honor of the 13th annual Read Across America event, thousands of retired teachers and California Teachers Association leaders joined classroom teachers in reading aloud from their favorite books to elementary students across the state. Many were reading from Dr. Seuss books, since today’s celebration of the art of reading aloud coincides with author Theordore Geisel’s birthday.

In Los Angeles, CTA Vice President Dean Vogel and noted L.A. chef Paul McCullough  read this  year’s featured book for state events,  “Armadilly Chili.” At my wife’s school in San Jose Unified, a half-dozen retired teachers shared books with kids. It was a great event.

Reading Dr. Seuss was a good prologue for tomorrow’s Day of Action that the CTA and the other members of the Education Coalition have organized to protest continued budget cuts. Dr. Seuss would be honored if teachers surrounded the Capitol and read aloud one of his early books, still apt 60 years later: “If I Ran the Zoo.”