To celebrate the new Dr. Seuss book What Pet Should I Get? Tampa Bay Rays all-star Evan Longoria and Carnival Cruise Line have teamed up to help animal shelters. Longoria will be donating $100 to Pet Pal Animal Shelter for every home run he hits during the 2015 season. Carnival will be matching that donation.

Carnival also sponsored special readings of the book by Longoria aboard the Carnival Paradise in Tampa and broadcaster Angela Hill aboard Carnival Dream in New Orleans. In addition, Carnival is donating money to the Tampa Bay and Louisiana Chapters of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

“Carnival is the No. 1 cruise line for families and we’re delighted to team up with Dr. Seuss Enterprises to bring the joy of reading to kids with these special presentations in Tampa and New Orleans while supporting local animal rescue organizations,” said Carnival’s president Christine Duffy.

“The kids were absolutely thrilled to have been treated to a reading of the first new Dr. Seuss book in 25 years and our most sincere thanks to Evan and Angela, as well as the SPCA, for the valuable work they do each and every day,” she added.

The author, whose real name was Theodor “Ted” Seuss Geisel, died in 1991 at the age of 87. When his widow, Audrey Geisel, was remodeling the home after her husband’s death, she found a box of text and sketches. She set it aside and 22 years later – in the fall of 2013- the box was rediscovered.

Audrey Geisel said she was not surprised to find an unpublished book since her husband always worked on multiple projects at the same time. The book What Pet Should I Get? was likely written between 1958 and 1962. It features the same brother and sister seen in Dr. Seuss’ 1960 classic One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish.

Wearing Dr. Seuss’s signature striped hat and surrounded by SPCA rescue dogs, Longoria and Hill read What Pet Should I Get? to happy children. Following the reading, children and adults joined The Cat in the Hat, Sam I Am, and Thing 1 and Thing 2 for Carnival’s popular Green Eggs and Ham Breakfast with The Cat in the Hat and Friends, part of Carnival’s exclusive Seuss at Sea program.

Launched in 2014, Seuss at Sea is a fleet wide program featuring youth, family, dining and entertainment experiences inspired by the world and words of Dr. Seuss. The program includes such fun activities as the Seuss-a-palooza Parade and Story Time, as well as character interactions, Dr. Seuss toys and games and popular movies.

Photo by Carnival Cruise Line