There was a DAT in a hat at the Montgomery Hyundai plant. There were many DATs, in fact, and DATs in many hats.
And that's sort of how people were talking Tuesday at the assembly plant, where members of Hyundai's Diversity Action Team were reading about a mischievous cat in a big red-and-white hat.
But the chapeau-sporting readers weren't two pages into the classic Dr. Seuss story before the audience -- about 40 first-grade students from Martin Luther King Elementary -- began reciting the poem right back.
"It's one of the books they can pick up and read by themselves earlier than some of the others," said Jana McIntosh, a first-grade teacher at the school. "If there is a variety of books, they will go and get Dr. Seuss first."
Celebrating the national "Read Across America" event and the 102nd birthday of Theodor Seuss Geisel -- also known as Dr. Seuss -- Hyundai team members this week are reading classic Seuss stories to Montgomery County students.
First-graders are too young for a plant tour, said Sheron Rose, manager of diversity and government affairs at Hyundai, but "because we care about the kids and their education, this is an opportunity for us to reach the younger ones."
DAT is made up of about 100 volunteers from Hyundai's work force.
Besides reading to children, the team is currently gathering prom dresses to donate to disadvantaged high school students. In November, the group brought together veterans from the Korean War and some of the surviving Tuskegee Airmen.
"Reading to area students is just one more opportunity for us to show our commitment -- both to education and to our community," said Greg Kimble, director of human resources at Hyundai.
The students were enthusiastic about the choice of author. As Hyundai's Emily Wheeler began reading through "The Cat in the Hat," the students recited large parts of the poem word for word, evidence of Geisel's lasting influence.
"Year after year, Dr. Seuss continues to fly off the shelves as new readers discover this timeless classic," said Lindsey Nobles, director of special events for Birmingham-based Books-A-Million.
Read Across America -- put on by the National Education Association -- is an annual event around Geisel's birthday that promotes the enjoyment of reading to young children.
Montgomery's two Books-A-Million stores will have Dr. Seuss readings starting at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, and Barnes and Noble will have a Dr. Seuss story time starting at 11 a.m. that day.
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