arts

Bookmans hosts Seussabration event for Dr. Seuss’s work

Kacie Lillejord

February 3, 2017

Courtesy Bookmans

Kids and their families do crafts at the Seussabration event at Bookmans Mesa in 2012. Seussabration events are held at each of the three Tucson Bookmans locations.

Each of the Bookmans locations in Tucson will be hosting Spectacular Seussabrations, celebrations of writer and cartoonist Dr. Seuss and his work. The Ina Road location will begin the event on Saturday, Feb. 4, followed by the Grant Road location on Feb. 11 and the Speedway Bouelvard location on Feb. 18, all starting at 11 a.m.

Danielle Byers, the events liaison for Bookmans’ location at 6230 E. Speedway, is one of the people involved with putting together Seussabrations, alongside Bookmans’ community relations manager Caity Evans and, for this particular Seussabrations event, Bookmans’ community partner Stephanie Quimby-Greene. Quimby-Greene’s business name is Silly Tassie, and she plays various characters at several Bookmans events.

Byers said in an email that each store has a monthly theme and has a monthly featured event that follows the theme. February is a combination of one of Bookmans’ core values, literacy and Valentine’s Day, which Bookmans refers to as Love of Reading Month. Bookmans can host any event they prefer stemming from this concept, but due to the popularity of Dr. Seuss, they decided to stick with Seussabrations as their main event for February.

Byers said Bookmans holds Seussabrations yearly because it is so well received by the community and because it unites the concepts of literacy and Love of Reading Month.

The event highlights different Seuss works. Byers said Seuss’ Cat in the Hat is the most well-known and popular Dr. Seuss character, though Seuss’ Lorax would be a close second.

Byers said as long as events such as Seussabrations are consistently well-attended, they will keep the concept for future years, as is true for all events. Byers said they have watched many children grow up at their events, especially with their story time/music hour every Tuesday at Bookmans’ east Tucson location.

For the Seussabrations event, Greene-Quimby will wear a Cat In the Hat hat and Dr. Seuss apron and bring items representing each of Seuss’s books that are for children around ages pre-kindergarten to fourth grade. She will then follow up with a story centering around the items she pulls from her bags, including audience members as participants. After the story, there will be face painting and activities.

Byers said there is often a large turnout at her location’s Seussabration but that event attendance can change depending on what else is happening in town.

In addition to Seussabrations, Bookmans offers various other events. Bookmans’ east location in Tucson has animal rescues, Young Adult Book Club, Adult Color Club and Pokemon Club, as well as events featuring their community partners like Silly Tassie. Byers said Bookmans event liaisons do their best to “keep a variety of fun and culturally relevant activities for [their] customers.” These events are always free and open to the public.

Whether it’s Seussabrations or one of Bookmans’ other events that you decide to attend, make a day of it and enjoy yourself. Bring friends and family. After all, Dr. Seuss did declare that “fun is good.”

For a complete list of Bookmans’s events, visit their website and look under their events link: www.bookmans.com.

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