Dr. Seuss is a Massachusetts legend. The author was from Springfield, Mass., and every year around his birthday, schools across the country celebrate reading.

And two Worcester schools had a special guests to help.

Jeremy Hill and Ted Karras spent Friday reading with students at Vernon Hill Elementary and Lake View Elementary schools in Worcester. Both schools welcomed guest readers to help the students get excited about reading, including local police, firefighters, city officials and even the Holy Cross women's basketball team.

At Lake View Elementary School, Ted and a Patriots cheerleader walked out in front of an excited audience as "We Are the Champions" by Queen blasted over the auditorium speakers.

"I love hanging with the kids," Ted said. "They have so much enthusiasm, especially being in Massachusetts and the success we've been able to have, it's really rubbed off in the community. It's great to be a part of it."

Though he was given a hero's welcome for the Patriots success on the field, Ted made sure to let the students know that no matter what they want to achieve, reading and being a student of life is the most important.

And he speaks from experience. When he's not practicing or training for the season, Ted is working towards his MBA.

"[I wanted them to know] that reading is important. I'm glad we read a couple of stories to them," he said. "[I want them] just to know that school is not a chore. It's something that, as you get older, will open up doors for you, and then it becomes a choice too once you've made it that far."

While Ted read to third graders at Lake View, Jeremy spent the morning reading to sixth graders at Vernon Hill.

After reading to the group, Jeremy answered their questions from football to his favorite books growing up. Jeremy told them he didn't always love reading, but in an attempt to get his GPA up, Jeremy fell in love with books.

"It was good to try and give a positive voice for the kids, especially knowing how much I hated reading," Jeremy said. "I think some of them got it. Some of them were really in tune to what I was saying. Hopefully some of them will pick up a book after this."