Santa and his helpers will be visiting the Selma-Dallas County area Saturday to read fun Christmas stories to the boys and girls in town.

The Zeta Eta Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority is hosting their annual Reading is Fun Breakfast Saturday at the Selma Convention Center from 10 a.m. to noon. During the program, children can select books, enjoy breakfast with Santa, listen to Christmas stories told by Santa’s helpers and hear Christmas carols.

“It’s all to motivate the children to want to read, to read, and to share their reading with others,” Nancy Sewell, the coordinator of the Zeta Eta Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, said. “It’s a wonderful program, and we invite the kids to come out for a good, old-fashion Dr. Seuss breakfast.”

Santa’s helpers Clifford, Franklin the Turtle and Curious George and Waldo will be joining in on the Christmas fun Saturday.

The local program was adopted from the national Reading is Fundamental program, which motivated children to read by delivering free books and literacy resources to those children and families who need them most, according to Sewell.

Karen Brown, the president of the Zeta Eta Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, said it’s never too early to expose children to reading. She works at the daycare New Horizons Educational Center, and she said the newborns there that are read to multiple times a day show positive results of communicating with others.

“I think it’s very important for parents to read their child while their pregnant and for children to be read to two or three times a day,” Brown said. “Even the newborns are read to two or three times a day, and we see a major difference in the way that they respond when socializing with people.”

Reading Sewell said she wants the children to realize that reading is essential to a successful future.

“It is the foundation,” Sewell, said.” It’s a child’s key to success.”

of cane that flourished before settlers began clearing the land for agriculture.

Four houses and five churches will be featured in this year’s show, and Becket said that their original