Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss





I can remember being in kindergarten and falling in love with the sturdy book in my hands. Bright clean colors within contrasting dark lines, the BIG BLACK FONT, all trademarks of a Dr. Seuss book. The box of new books had just arrived in our classroom while we were out during lunch, and we stood huddled around our teacher's oak desk, our tip toes up so we could see over each other's heads as she pulled the sealing tape off the brown box.

There were so many books, no one who wanted one, had to go without. I remember reaching for If I Ran The Zoo because of its stark white cover and haphazard black letters that almost filled the entire space. I flipped through the pages and the crazy pink skies and unheard of blue grass and a six foot tall polka dot cat, was it a cat? and trees that looked like spray painted ice cream cones had me running for the reading corner, where I could sit, uninterrupted, and read. Reading never felt like work in that classroom.

I learned to read with Dr. Seuss, something I've never forgotten. When my children were a year old I bought them each their own six book starter set of Seuss' books. Since my boys were only a year and a half apart in age, we quickly had a full dozen Seuss books in the boys' shared bedroom. They'd make their way over to their short book case every night and pull out their favorites for me and my husband to read. But many times I'd catch them on their own, tucked into their chairs, a Seuss book in their laps, imitating the words they'd hear when we read to them. In their wonderfully childish voices, they'd mimic "Da B book. B is for big brown banana boxes..." and one that I love still, "Are you my mudder? Are you my mudder?"

Yes, my children learned to read on Dr. Seuss books too. And that floods me with warm memories.

Happy birthday, dear Dr. Seuss, you made me think of myself as a reader.

If you have a little one, or know of someone else's little one, and they've got a special day coming up, gift them with some Seuss. Remember the silly loveliness of Seuss' illustrations and the rhyming ease that helped you guess at words so you'd feel accomplished and like you were reading, even though you weren't.

My children pretended to read two years before they actually could. And they did it with Dr. Seuss books.

Here's an awesome link to the best the Doctor has to offer, from his website, Seussville.

Thrill a child, let them think they're reading before they can. They're called self fulfilling prophecies for a reason.

* * * 

**TAKE your kids to the coolest interactive website EVER: Seussville.
(Games, clothes, puzzles, classroom aids, projects, printable sheets. Oh, and maybe one or two books. xo)

photo credit: charliecurve via photopin cc

24 comments:

  1. I love Dr. Seuss!!! His books make learning fun. My youngest is now 7 and I was hoping we'd have some Seuss books left over for either the grandkidlets down the road or the nieces who are joining the family now. But nope. Sadly, the books have been read to pieces and probably won't make it to Grandkidland. But, hey, I'll buy more. :) I also LOVE the Dr. Seuss Dictionary. I had one as a kid and found one for my kids and jumped up and down. I probably need to get out more.

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  2. smiles...i love dr seuss....i grew up reading it and can probably recite many of the books from memory after my kids too...i used to read seuss to adults that i taught how to sell and be managers....lol

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  3. Thanks for this! I did not know. As it turns out one of my dearest girlfriends' little boys turns 5 today :-)

    I remember Dr. Seuss well from my own kindergarten days too, and my son and I just LOVED "Are You My Mother?" So many books are brand new now that it's especially sweet to be able to share our old childhood books with our children.

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    1. Oh, Ceci, I would be so happy if this triggered you into buying some Seuss for a little one!! I still am taken back to sweet memories when I spot some Seuss on a shelf.

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  4. We recently bought the Dr. Seuss audio books for Roozle for the car. We listen to them most mornings on the way to school. She LOVES them and we often find ourselves still listening long after we've dropped her off.

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  5. i am so excited that my son's class is celebrating Dr.Seuss by dedicating a whole week for him. He was sick today and I was going to keep him home but today was blue and red day in honour of 1 fish, 2 fish.
    I love me Seuss.

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  6. We also pretended to read before we could with Dr. Seuss. I also love that website. How amazing to have touched the world and to continue to touch the world the way Dr. Suess did.

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  7. I always loved listening to my partner read Dr. Seuss books to our children. English is not her first language but she speaks it without an accent. BUT, as soon as she would begin to read Dr. Seuss, her accent would come out because so much of the books are Seussian, not English. Hilarious.

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    1. I KNOW.

      I remember my mother reading to the kids in her broken english, heavy accent, "Arrrrrrrr jooo myeee mudder??"

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  8. I wrote a paper in graduate school about the Philosophy of Dr. Seuss. There are so many messages in his books. I think Yertle the Turtle is my favorite: "And the turtles, of course, all the turtles were free, as turtles and, maybe, all creatures should be."

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    1. I learned so much about Seuss when there was a traveling exhibit here for his bday this weekend. A very intelligent, socially aware man. His books are genius, and knowing more about him enriches the reading, doesn't it??

      I"d love to see you post on it.

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  9. It was the most hilarious thing seeing my 4 yr old, who barely speaks a word of English, trying to "read" Green Eggs and Ham. The only thing he remembered was "No! Sam-I-Am" and "Say!" (spoken with a really long drawn-out "a."

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  10. The best Sneetches on the beaches are the ones with stars upon thars - fact.

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  11. And who among us hasn't uttered "but that guy tried the green eggs and ham when he didn't want to"? A person's a person, no matter how small! Gosh I hadn't thought of those changing colored spots in awhile.

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  12. good job Thanks lot for this useful article, nice post

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  13. It's funny. Of all the Dr. Seuss books I have read over my lifetime, and memorized when my children were young, the one that stands out in my head from childhood is The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. I loved the story but more importantly, I loved the illustrations. That book captured me like a very few did.

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    1. I fell in love with Are You My Mother.

      the joy of Seuss.

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  14. I absolutely love Dr Suess, and "Oh The Places You'll Go" is a gift I give to every HS graduate. Because I love for them to read about how they are special, wonderful and bound to have some hard times, but it doesn't matter because sooner or later they will "start happening too" .

    my father used to read "Green Eggs and Ham" to us, even when we were all grown up and knew the words by heart. When i miss him...I think of him on a beach somewhere, sipping a drink and making up his own words to Green Eggs.

    xo

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  15. Dr Seuss is one of my very favorite authors. I can't wait to see my son fall in love with his writing like I did when I was a kid.

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  16. I grew up on Dr Seuss, too. I cannot wait to share his words with my littlest ones, too :)

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