MHS Teachers To Spend Vacation with Dr. Seuss & Shakespeare

Marblehead High School English teacher Caroline Todd says she'll trade in her lesson plans for a "love fest" this summer. The object of her affection? Her new baby, Jeremy. 

"We'll be reading lots of Dr. Seuss and Grover's Alphabet," she said laughing.

Todd has taught English for nine years in Marblehead.  She took a circuitous route here from her hometown of Cleveland. After college, she traveled to Russia with the Peace Corps and stayed for five years.

"I taught banking, marketing and economics in the Russian Far East," she said. She later moved to Moscow where she led a bank training program for commercial lenders.

She hopes to visit Moscow soon with her family.

"We have a poster of the Russian alphabet hanging over the baby's crib," she said.

In addition to kids' classics, Todd said she has "a whole stack of books" she wants to read this summer, including Catch-22 by Joseph Heller.

Fellow English teacher Patrice Clough will have a literary vacation too. She'll travel to Lenox for a one-woman show about Shakespeare's female characters.

And she's hitting the books.

"I am having a  William Faulkner summer," said Clough, who has taught at MHS for more than 20 years.  She'll read a biography of the southern author and dive back into some of his great works.

Also on her summer reading list -- The Map of True Places by Salem author Brunonia Barry.

"I must unwind and read and just think in the summer so I can recharge for September," she said. "It is usually a peaceful time for me."