It took only seconds for former kindergarten teacher Kerry Laster to push the adult-sized chair out of the way and sit Indian-style on the floor with a group of Monterey kindergartners Wednesday.

The group of students who only knew the district’s superintendent as &uot;that Dr. lady,&uot; responded almost instantly to the calming, yet instructive voice and the idea of someone coming from outside their school to read a book to them.

Across the river, at Morgantown Elementary School, the sight of Mayor Phillip West in a red and white striped Dr. Seuss hat and the rhyming rhythms of &uot;The Cat in the Hat&uot; had second-graders equally entranced.

Across America, and across the Miss-Lou, schools participated in the annual Read-Across America day Wednesday in honor of famed author Ted Geisel’s (Dr. Seuss) birthday.

At Ferriday Upper Elementary students started the day with a reader’s oath, administered by Judge Kathy Johnson, pledging to always read.

In Thelma Newsome’s fourth-grade class, guest reader Ornsby L. Young challenged the students to keep their oath.

&uot;You don’t stop reading and you don’t stop studying,&uot; Young said.

Newsome reminded the students of their oath and reinforced the importance of books.

&uot;This is the way we feed our brain,&uot; Newsome said. &uot;If you are going to succeed you have got to be able to read.&uot;

Readers were able to choose from fiction and non-fiction stories to read to the classes. While Young read the students a story about the origin of the song &uot;America the Beautiful,&uot; down the hall fifth-grader Tiffany Perkins was hearing a fictional story with a moral attached.

&uot;I like fiction because I don’t like reading the truth,&uot; Perkins said, noting she likes books that made her laugh.

While fact or fiction may not be a concept Monterey’s kindergartners have entirely grasped, the little ones had no trouble at all naming their favorite books. &uot;The Three Wolves&uot; and &uot;Green Eggs and Ham&uot; made the list.

&uot;I read a lot of times,&uot; Heather Baker said after story time.

Morgantown Elementary second-grader Telvin Lowery said he thought nighttime, just before bed was the best time for a book, but classmate Tealrietta Thompson said she and her mom read anytime.

&uot;It’s fun. Some books are funny,&uot; Thompson said.