For Read Across America Day (Doctor Seuss's birthday), kids at my son's elementary school dressed as Doctor Seuss characters. He wanted to be a Star-Bellied Sneetch. Involved and fun-loving mom that I am (and despite an utter lack of sewing skills), I made him a costume. And, as the school library's chief library, I dressed as the Cat in the Hat. As I admit that I did on many occasions.
One hundred and twenty years ago today, Theodor Seuss Geisel was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. He grew up to become a writer, cartoonist, and advertising copywriter. He wrote a few children's picture books in the 1930s and 1940s.
But in 1954, inspired by a report on illiteracy that showed that children were not learning to read because they found beginning readers to be boring, an editor challenged him to write a non-boring children's book using only a list of 250 words that first-graders were supposed to be able to recognize. The Cat In the Hat was born, "Dr. Seuss," as he dubbed himself, became a household name, and children's literature changed forever.
Yes, there have been issues with some of his books making use of racist stereotypes; he redrew some images, and the publisher has stopped printing several books that many people found offensive. And his later works so often focused on issues of equality. So many of his creative, engaging, and just plain fun books still delight children and adults today. What's your favorite?
And while you are trying to choose just one, this would be an excellent day to eat some green eggs and ham.
Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!
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