Children took over South Lawn on Sunday afternoon as the New York Times hosted the Great Children’s Read.
Celebrities took to four stages—well adorned with advertisements from lead sponsor, Target—to read from more than a dozen children’s classics. Beyond the main stages, there were pavilions with hands-on activities hosted by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New York Hall of Science, and Bee Movie, among others.
Kate, age 4, came with her mother all the way from Long Island to see Johnny and the Sprites, characters from a Disney television show that’s a far way from Sesame Street. “We had to come because Kate loves them,” her mother explained. “Now let’s dance!” yelled Kate, dragging her mother away by the arm.
Unlike most activities geared toward the under-five audience, adults had enough to keep them busy at the Great Read. Dame Julie Andrews took the stage to read with her daughter from their book, Thanks to You: Wisdom from Mother & Child, greeting a cacophony of whispers: “That’s Mary Poppins,” and “That’s the Queen” (the latter being a reference to the Princess Diaries movies).
And then there was Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning Law & Order: SVU actress Mariska Hargitay, who dipped into E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web. Columbia’s own Brian Dennehy, CC ’60, read from Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly lent his gruff New York accent to his reading of Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham.
Some readers, like Stacy London of TLC’s What Not to Wear, couldn’t help but offer words of advice. After reading from Sara Pennypacker’s Clementine she said, “Work hard, dress right, and watch Fashionably Late!”
Harry Bauld, CC ’77, came with his wife, who attends Teachers College, and his son. He said he enjoyed the event, but added, “Normally reading is a solitary activity. Here, they’re using multimedia to do battle with television. It is an interesting, yet contradictory, method to celebrate books.”
He continued, “Maybe they should teach Lit Hum this way—have Robert Fagles come and act out The Odyssey.”