Read Across America Day, 2009

Proclamation 8349 of February 27, 2009

Read Across America Day, 2009

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Read Across America Day provides an opportunity to
support efforts to excite children about reading and to
educate families about the importance of literacy. I
encourage families and all citizens to celebrate the
joy and emphasize the importance of reading.

Every American child deserves the opportunity to solve
the puzzles of mystery novels, to discover the beauty
of poetry, to imagine the fantastical worlds of science
fiction, and to explore their own world through books
about nature and foreign lands. Reading provides
unending enjoyment and helps unlock a child's creative
potential. We must make literacy the birthright of
every American.

Every child also deserves the tools they will need for
success. Students must read well to meet high standards
in the classroom. Understanding science, mathematics,
and the arts requires the ability to read proficiently.
Beyond the schoolyard, our youth must be prepared to
meet the demands of the global economy. New
technologies and steep competition abroad require our
Nation to focus on children's reading skills as a
building block for future personal achievements.

Families must play an active role in this effort. On
Read Across America Day, parents are encouraged to read
to their children for at least 30 minutes. I also
encourage parents to recognize the critical importance
of literacy for their children's future and to develop
habits at home that encourage reading, such as reading
to their children every night or providing incentives
for them to read on their own.

On Read Across America Day, we partner with the
National Education Association and mark the birthday of
Theodor Geisel, whose beloved Dr. Seuss books still
inspire children throughout the world to read.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United
States, do hereby proclaim March 2, 2009, as Read
Across America Day. I call upon children, families,
educators, librarians, public officials, and all the
people of the United States to observe this day with
appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twenty-seventh day of February, in the year of our Lord
two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and thirty-
third.