Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

What better way to celebrate National Read Across America Day than by honoring a man who was a pioneer for some of the cleverest storytelling. Inspired by rhymes, Theodor (with no e) Seuss Geisel aka Dr. Seuss was born March 2nd, 1904 and passed away at the age of 87. He created some of the world’s most famous children’s books to date and would have celebrated his 116th Birthday today.

Every book is full of fantastical tales in faraway places with eye-catching visuals illustrated frequently by Theodor himself. Each story full of such a whimsical language that gets the reader excited about words eager to learn to read! Dr. Seuss’s books are written in such a way that they actually help develop language and emotional skills while encouraging social development.

“Today you are you, and that is truer than true. There is no one alive that is youer than you”-Dr. Seuss.

Let’s be honest, sometimes learning can be mundane for kiddos but Dr. Seuss makes fantasy, silliness, and nonsense words essential for learning in all of his books. Which is able to keep the attention of his young readers. Every tale teaches an inspiring life lesson that lets your imagination run wild. In a sea of books, his stand apart forming confident independent readers. One fish, Two Fish, Red fish, Blue fish, each story contains the right reading readiness for each and every child.

In their 1995 biography of Dr. Seuss, Judith and Neil Morgan said Dr. Seuss got his beautiful sense of poetry and inspiring rhymes from his mother. “My mother is responsible for the rhythms in which I write and the urgency in which I write them”- Dr. Seuss. So he  definitely got it from his mama! Dr. Seuss prided himself in storytelling that never insulted children’s intelligence. Besides being a children’s author and illustrator Dr. Seuss also worked as a political cartoonist, poet, animator, screenwriter, and filmmaker.

“A person is a person no matter how small” -Dr. Seuss

With so many Fun Facts out there it was hard to pick just a few to share.

• Dr. Seuss has met 7 United States Presidents. his first book
• And to think that I Saw It on Mulberry Street was rejected 27 times before finally being published; never give up!
• To his friends he was Ted.
• His book If I Ran the Zoo holds the distinction of being the first published record of the word NERD.
• He based the character The Grinch off himself in hopes of trying to rediscover something about Christmas he thought he lost.
• Dr. Seuss wrote and illustrated 44 children’s books in his lifetime and often came up with stories by doodling.
• Most know Dr. Seuss was never really a doctor and Seuss was his mother’s maiden name.
• The Co-Founder of publishing giant Random House Bennett Cerf was reported saying “out of all the authors who have ever written for me there was only one genius and that is  Ted Geisel.”

Besides being a children’s author and illustrator Dr. Seuss also worked as a political cartoonist, poet, animator, screenwriter, and filmmaker.

Ms. Nicole Zeigler a kindergarten teacher and angel of a human at our local elementary school has a true gift of teaching little people how to read like big people. She brought Dr. Seuss on the scene with all his nonsense words, funniest of fun stories, and captivating illustrations that sparked the flame of reading in both my daughters. I can see why it is a no brainier that Dr. Seuss’s books are hailed by elementary educators and remedial reading specialists.

Dr. Seuss’s books will leave you with a smile, a mind ready to soar into imagination land, and a thirst to pick up another book!

Just like Dr. Seuss said, “The more you read, the more things you’ll know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”

Knowledge is powerful and thanks to Dr. Seuss we can instill it even sooner to our children.