Community News

Public invited to read to goats at Sandburg barn

By Bill Moss, Published: February 24, 2020

FLAT ROCK — During National Reading Month in March, visitors to Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site can “Read to a Goat.”

The program will be offered in the barn yard with books available for a wide range of reading levels. Visitors are invited to find a comfortable spot on a bench in the yard or in the pasture near the goats and practice early reading skills or simply enjoy reading aloud to the goat audience.

National Reading Month was originally established to recognize the whimsical works of Dr. Seuss and promote reading at all age levels. At the barn, visitors will be able to select from a variety of Carl Sandburg’s works including the Pulitzer Prize winning Complete Poems, Abe Lincoln Grows Up (a biography for young adults), and several illustrated selections from Sandburg’s children’s series, Rootabaga Stories. Selections from Rootabaga Stories include: The Huckabuck Family, The Wedding Procession of the Ragdoll and the Broom Handle, and Never Kick a Slipper at the Moon! Visitors may also bring their own favorite book to read.

A special bookmark will be provided to those who read to a goat. Readers can also celebrate the program through social media by using the hashtag #ReadToAGoat when posting pictures to their favorite social media sites.

“Through visitors reading Mr. Sandburg’s works to descendants of Mrs. Sandburg’s champion dairy goat herd, this program merges two legacies—the literary legacy of Carl Sandburg and the agricultural science legacy of Lilian “Paula” Sandburg,” said Superintendent Polly Angelakis.