Fatima Ptacek, a 12-year-old girl from Queens who is the voice of Dora the Explorer, visits a Manhattan elementary school to celebrate Read Across America Day in honor of Dr. Seuss’s birthday.
Fatima Ptacek, the actress who voices Dora the Explorer and a recent Oscar Award-winner for the short film Curfew, visited P.S. 111 on March 1 in honor of Read Across America Day, a nationwide celebration of Dr. Seuss’s birthday. The 12-year-old from Queens introduced herself to the kindergarteners in the voice of her beloved character. “Hola, soy Dora. Hi, I’m Dora,” she said, to squeals of delight from the class.
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The performance was the first in a series of theatrical readings that The Brooke Jackman Foundation and the SAG Foundation BookPALS are planning to bring to public schools, libraries, homeless shelters, early intervention programs, and family justice centers in the coming year.
For each event, the SAG Foundation BookPALS will recruit actors to perform favorite children’s books specially selected for their many parts, voices, and sound effects, and The Brooke Jackman Foundation will donate books or Brooke Packs (backpacks filled with books and school supplies) to every child in attendance.
During the March 1 event, Fatima performed Susan Middleton Elya’s bilingual book No More Por Favor and the Dr. Seuss classic “Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?” Fatima and the students also wore red-and-white striped Cat in the Hat-style hats to mark the occasion.
After acting out the two books, Fatima sat on the floor with the kids to discuss her love of reading. Her father said that though he and Fatima were both exhausted after returning from the Academy Awards, he found her awake in her bedroom at 2am that same morning, hiding under the covers and reading “Of Mice and Men” with a flashlight. “I just couldn’t stop,” Fatima told the class. “When you get older, you’ll see. Of Mice and Men is just too good! I had to know what was going to happen to all of the characters at the end.”
Before leaving, Fatima helped Erin Jackman, executive director of the Brooke Jackman Foundation, hand out books, and she advised the students to never stop reading because it is the key to achieving their dreams.
