EL PASO, Texas – With the Cat in the Hat waiting in the wings, first lady Laura Bush did her best to read to 19 excited and squirming preschool children Wednesday morning at an El Paso library named for her and her mother.
“Whose in control here?” Bush asked with a smile as several children crowded at her feet, trying to get a better look at the pictures in Nancy Tufari’s “I Love You, Little One.” “This seldom happens to me.”
Bush appeared to skip a few pages as the children from the Mommies-Tiny Tots play group grew less interested in the book and more interested in introducing themselves and discussing the animal pictures in the 28-page book.
The first lady, a former librarian from Midland, was in El Paso to tour the Jenna Welch and Laura Bush Community Library at El Paso Community College’s northwest campus. It was the first time she had seen the library.
Following the brief reading, Bush toured her namesake library before leaving for a private fundraiser for Texas State Senate candidate Dee Margo.
Margo, a Republican who along with his wife is a longtime friend of the Bush family, is challenging Democrat Eliot Shapleigh, a three-term incumbent who has not had a challenger since taking office in 1997.