WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2015
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
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Children celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday
More than 60 people
attended Hermiston
library event
BY SEAN HART
HERMISTON HERALD
Children came to laugh
and play, in honor of a
special day, when Dr. Se-
uss was born years past,
who wrote so many books
that last.
More than 60 people at-
tended Hermiston Public
Library’s Dr. Seuss party
Monday on the birthday
of the renowned children’s
author, who was born The-
odor Seuss Geisel. The
children participated in a
variety of Dr. Seuss-themed
activities organized by chil-
dren’s librarian Raquel Ro-
driguez, who said the event
went well.
“It was a Monday, so we
weren’t sure what our turn-
out was going to be, but
I’m pretty impressed,” she
said. “We enjoy that the
kids can come to the library
and realize that there’s fun
things to do here.”
Rodriguez said the li-
brary has hosted similar
events in the past but not
for the last couple years.
She said schools usual-
ly celebrate Dr. Seuss’s
birthday, but she thought
it would be a fun event to
SEAN HART PHOTO
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bring back to the library
again because children
enjoy it, and it celebrates
an author who encourages
them to read.
“I love how (Dr. Se-
uss) gets the kids excit-
ed to read, learning new
words,” she said. “I love
how the schools and the
library can celebrate it to-
gether.”
Rodriguez’s
son,
8-year-old Jaysen Rodri-
guez, said he likes Dr.
Seuss because some of
the characters have “cool
hats, because they’re so
long.”
Kendyl Inners, 11,
Hermiston, helped at the
event, applying temporary
Dr. Seuss tattoos, and said
she enjoyed it.
“I think it’s a good way
for kids to learn more
about Dr. Seuss,” she said.
“He has really good books
because they’re funny, and
they’re really inspiring
too.”
While Inners said she
did not have a favorite Se-
uss book, Natalia LaBelle,
13, Hermiston, who was
also applying tattoos, said
she liked the interesting
places in “Oh, the Places
You’ll Go!” Ashlin Mal-
colm, 12, Hermiston, who
received a tattoo, said she
liked the rhymes in “One
Fish Two Fish Red Fish
Blue Fish.”
Her mother, Jennifer
Malcolm, said the event
SEAN HART PHOTO
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offered children a fun way
to celebrate Dr. Seuss,
whose books help children
learn to read.
“(Dr. Seuss uses) kind
of silly words, but it
teaches them phonics by
sounding them out, so
it’s perfect for beginning
readers,” she said.
The next library event
is a Traveling Lantern
Theatre Company play
about the Lewis and Clark
expedition at 2:30 p.m. to-
day at 235 E. Gladys Ave.,
Hermiston.
SEAN HART PHOTO
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Battle of the Books a tradition for Hermiston family
BY MAEGAN MURRAY
HERMISTON HERALD
For the Hermiston Doherty fam-
ily, the Oregon Battle of the Books
competition has become something
of a tradition.
When Hermiston resident Ben
Doherty was a student at West Park
Elementary School, he competed
in the event, even before it had ex-
panded to a state-wide competition.
Now that his children, Elizabeth and
Gavin, are of age to compete, they,
too, have taken on the family legacy.
During a special teacher-ver-
sus-student competition at Rocky
Heights Elementary School Mon-
day afternoon, Elizabeth Doherty,
a fourth-grader at the school, with
her team the Little Kickers, took
on her mother’s team, the A-team,
comprised entirely of teachers at
the school. Melissa Doherty a sec-
ond-grade teacher at the school, said
it provided the perfect chance to
continue the family tradition with a
friendly competition.
“It sounded like fun,” she said.
Monday’s match, as it turned out,
was one for the ages.
Melissa Doherty joined fellow
teachers Ipolito Maloy, Jessica
Campbell and Marianne Smith, and
Elizabeth Doherty joined fellow
fourth-graders Stephanie Booher,
Katelyn Wadkins and Ashley Tread-
well, and the teams battled it out un-
til the very end.
During the competition, both
teams matched each other ques-
tion-for-question until the last few
were given. The students and teach-
ers each answered four questions
where they had to name the title and
author of a book after given a detail
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of the book as a clue. Then they an-
swered four questions on content
from different books. Ultimately,
a small detail let the Little Kickers
student team slip into the lead.
On the second-to-last content
question, the A-team incorrectly an-
swered “barn loft,” instead of “hay
loft,” which the students answered
correctly. The right answer gave the
Little Kickers the points they needed
to beat their teachers, and in Eliza-
beth Doherty’s case, her mother, 25-
15.
Melissa Doherty said, while she
Eastern
Oregon
wouldn’t have admitted to it be-
forehand, she was actually most
nervous about competing against
her daughter’s team compared with
the other teacher team. She said her
daughter’s team came in to practice
in her classroom during lunch every
day for the past couple of weeks, so
she already knew how prepared they
were.
“I think we were just hoping that
we would score some points,” she
said with a laugh Monday.
Elizabeth Doherty said she, too,
was most nervous about squaring off
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Speakers: Kate Day
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Tuesday, March 10 th , 2015 at 7:00 p.m.
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against her mother, but it presented
an excellent opportunity to show her
knowledge of what she had read.
“It was scary and awesome at the
same time,” she said.
Elizabeth Doherty admits the
teams did a bit of trash-talking pri-
or to their match, but that it was all
in good fun. She said her and her
mom’s team took turns giving play-
fully intimidating looks. She said
her mom also had told her that she
was “totally going to beat her.” After
the match, Elizabeth also added a bit
of trash-talking, herself.
“You did really good, but we still
beat you,” she said to her mother
with a smile.
In their next competition, team
Little Kickers will face off against all
of the teams in the region in a dou-
ble elimination tournament at Blue
Mountain Community College. And
just like in the competition Monday
afternoon, Elizabeth Doherty will
once again duel it out with a fellow
family member.
Gavin Doherty, Elizabeth’s
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Hills Elementary School, will be
one of the students representing his
school in the tournament.
Melissa Doherty said it will be
interesting to see how they handle
that situation.
“It will be fun to see them go up
against each other,” she said.
Elizabeth Doherty and her fellow
team members said, however, they
think they can beat the HHES team.
“I think we’re going to do it,” Boo-
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