Cullen Cascadden, 7, left, and Van Higgs, 7, first-grade students at Benjamin Franklin Elementary School in Vancouver, enjoy a breakfast of Green Eggs and Ham. The colorful meal and hats pay tribute to children's author Dr. Seuss and support for childhood reading and literacy.Photo Gallery
This young Sam really wasn’t too keen on his green scrambled eggs.
A friend thought they tasted like pickles, but his mother gave a rave review.
When the cafeteria lights unexpectedly went dark for a few moments, a young voice piped up, “the Grinch did it!”
It was a merry, mischievous morning at Benjamin Franklin Elementary School in northwest Vancouver on Wednesday. Right up the alley of that trickster, the Cat in the Hat, who bore a striking resemblance to the school’s head custodian.
Say, you don’t suppose …
No bother. The lights flicked back on and the six dozen Franklin first-graders made the most of their “Green Eggs and Ham” breakfast — eggs, or no.
It was their turn in the weeklong Read Across America fanfare being played out in dozens of Vancouver-area grade schools, part of an annual, nationwide tribute to late children’s author Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel), who was born on March 2, 1904, and who did so much to encourage reading and literacy.
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Once more, the kitchen crew and staff at Vancouver’s Beaches Restaurant & Bar, abetted by scores of civic and business volunteers and other donors, are dishing the iconic meal to hundreds of curious, if not always courageous, first-graders.
And, once again, personal tastes contrasted as sharply as the colorful stripes on the Cat Hats most youngsters proudly sported.
“I don’t really like green eggs,” declared young Sam McMann, 7. “I don’t really like bananas and I don’t like orange juice,” he added — pretty much dissing his whole plateful.
Ah, but that left a slice of unadulterated ham and a tie-dye fruit roll. Both of which Sam and vast majority of his mates enjoyed, gumming and tearing and chewing with giggles and great smiles. Often, they mugged for a photograph taken by mom, dad or another tag-along relative.
But, those eggs?
“‘Ewww’ is the reaction of a lot of them,” teacher Angela Shaw said of pupils’ reaction when they read the rhyming, lyrical book together and she mentions the upcoming meal.
“A lot of them tell me they’re not going to eat it, but then they do,” Shaw said. “It’s a fun time.”
Janet Wilson didn’t hesitate to gobble her eggs, even if her son, Roan Tanoto, 6, made a mental pickle connection.
“I dug right in. It tastes like Dr. Seuss said it would — it’s pretty good,” Wilson said.
As was Randy Kohlschmidt, better known as Franklin’s building operator, who deftly pantomimed his way around the large room as the hatted Cat.
Drawing this apt compliment from Shaw: “He’s a hambone.”
