Mayor Helps Open New Chapter in Push for Literacy

Mayor Richard Riordan could never figure out why anyone would want to eat green eggs and ham, but he knows one thing--it’s the subject of one of his favorite children’s books.

“I know ‘Green Eggs and Ham’ by heart,” the mayor told a class of kindergartners Tuesday in the Central Library at the kickoff of a new literacy program.

“Who would want to eat green eggs?” the mayor asked the 5-year-olds. “Would you?”

The little ones from the Salvation Army Los Angeles Day Care Center all giggled, and most replied no.

Whatever book they like, what’s most important is that they read, Riordan said, and that their parents read to them.

The mayor’s pitch at the library’s Mark Taper Auditorium helped launch “Read to Me L.A.,” an ambitious citywide campaign to educate parents and caregivers about the importance of reading to their children, especially at an early age.

The campaign hopes to train 100 volunteers to spread the gospel of reading to children at schools, libraries, stores, community events and even hospitals. It aims to engage at least 10,000 parents in the coming year.

Riordan said he will personally help in that effort and hopes to raise several million dollars from corporate sponsors for this and other literacy efforts.

Already, more than $150,000 has been raised for “Read to Me L.A.,” including $100,000 from GTE, $20,000 from the mayor’s Riordan Foundation and $10,000 from Macy’s West. Times Mirror Co., which publishes The Times, also plans to be a sponsor.

Most of the money will help develop the training curriculum for the volunteers. A video will be produced to teach parents how to make the most out of reading to their children and how to select age-appropriate books, said Mary Odell, Riordan Foundation president.

The video won’t help beleaguered parents find time for the reading. But, Odell said, “it will show them that they can even read to their kids for just 10 minutes a day.”

Education has been a cornerstone of Riordan’s second term, and he showed his interest in the subject Tuesday by reading a story to the enthralled kindergartners. He agreed with Mark Willes, Times Mirror chairman and publisher of The Times, that literacy is the key to improving the education of the city’s children.

“How bright the future can be if they learn how to read,” Willes said. “If they don’t . . . they will struggle all their lives.”