Read Across America Day in the United States
Many people in the United States, particularly students, parents and teachers, join forces on Read Across America Day, annually held on March 2. This nationwide observance coincides with the birthday of Dr Seuss, who is known for writing children’s books.
What Do People Do?
Read Across America Day promotes reading, particularly for children and young adults. Many schools, libraries, and community centers across the United States participate in the day by bringing people together to take part in reading books. Various reading activities and events are held across the country on this day. For example, some students take part in a Read Across America channel designed to showcase student and educator videos around the country. Others make reading pledges, organize book fairs, or read aloud to groups of people.
Read Across America Day an observance and is not a federal public holiday in the United States.
In 1997 an organization known as the National Education Association (NEA), pushed for a special day to celebrate reading throughout the United States. This idea proved to be a popular one so it was not long before the first Read Across America Day was held on March 2, 1998. This nationwide observance coincides with the birthday of Dr Seuss (Geisel), an American writer best known writing children’s books. Some of his books include Green Eggs and Ham, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, and The Cat in the Hat.
The NEA represents about 3.2 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators and students preparing to become teachers. It provides resources and activities for educators, parents, and children.
Read Across America calendars and other promotional material for Read Across America Day show images of activities associated with reading, learning, literacy and other elements of education.
Read Across America Day Observances
|Weekday||Date||Year||Name||Holiday Type||Where It is Observed|
|Tue||Mar 2||2010||Read Across America Day||Observance|
|Wed||Mar 2||2011||Read Across America Day||Observance|
|Fri||Mar 2||2012||Read Across America Day||Observance|
|Fri||Mar 1||2013||Read Across America Day||Observance|
|Mon||Mar 3||2014||Read Across America Day||Observance|
|Mon||Mar 2||2015||Read Across America Day||Observance|
|Wed||Mar 2||2016||Read Across America Day||Observance|
|Thu||Mar 2||2017||Read Across America Day||Observance|
|Fri||Mar 2||2018||Read Across America Day||Observance|
|Fri||Mar 1||2019||Read Across America Day||Observance|
|Mon||Mar 2||2020||Read Across America Day||Observance|
Quick FactsRead Across America Day is observed in the United States on March 2 each year.
Read Across America Day 2016Wednesday, March 2, 2016
Read Across America Day 2017Thursday, March 2, 2017
Name in other languages
|Read Across America Day||English|
|Día de la Lectura a Través de América||Spanish|
|קרא לאומי ברחבי אמריקה||Hebrew|
|عبر الوطنية مقروءة أمريكا اليوم||Arabic|
|미국 날맞은 편 읽기||Korean|
|Lesedag i hele Amerika||Norwegian|
|Read Across America||German|
Other holidays in March 2017 in the United States
- Ash Wednesday – Wednesday, March 1, 2017
- Texas Independence Day – Thursday, March 2, 2017
- Employee Appreciation Day – Friday, March 3, 2017
- Casimir Pulaski Day – Monday, March 6, 2017
- Town Meeting Day Vermont – Tuesday, March 7, 2017
- Purim – Sunday, March 12, 2017
- St. Patrick's Day – Friday, March 17, 2017
- Maryland Day – Saturday, March 25, 2017
- Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole Day – Sunday, March 26, 2017
- Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole Day – Monday, March 27, 2017
- César Chávez Day – Friday, March 31, 2017