It's below zero. It's Read Across America Day. Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

It's March. MARCH. Spring begins. It's below zero. What is going on?

On a brighter note, Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

In honor of his birthday, it's Read Across America Day .

Did you know that Dr. Seuss's And to Think I Saw it on Mulberry Street got 37 rejections before it got published? 37. Think about that, all you who write. I guess editors thought it would teach children to tell tall tales. Wow. I thought it was the best lesson ever when my son was in the tall-tale-telling mode. It helped us distinguish the two: fact and fiction.

Dr. Seuss, I love you!

Reading

I love holiday break. Get up, make coffee, write, walk Freya, eat lunch, write some more, work out (preferably, XC skiing, or tromping through knee-deep snow, or even sitting on the bike on the trainer and hating Coach Troy), write a bit more, make dinner, read, maybe clean a little, maybe watch a movie, read. Such a schedule is more than idyllic. It's heaven.

The reading part might be the best since during school I barely have time to keep up reading what my students are reading for my own classes.

Right now: I finished the Hunger Games and am halfway through Catching Fire. Don't want to put them down. I have about ten more books I'd like to read in the next ten days. Not sure that's gonna happen. Am going to get Wintergirls and Thirteen Reasons Why and Mockingbird any day now.

And then, there's the good family things that come with holidays. Yesterday, Bill and Cathy (my brother and his wife), came up from Iowa for the day. We had a blast. That sort of Christmas vacation possibility is the very best of all.