The Wonderful World of Dr. Seuss

For years children and adults alike have been entertained and tickled pink by the wondrous world of Dr. Seuss. He has managed to write memorable, playful characters that speak to children and draw them into the world of reading.

He is know far and wide for his memorable characters, the playful verse, the rhyming words, and the creative writing that the children understand and love. Even better, adults love him too.

One of the things I like best about Dr. Seuss are his witticisms. I have included several of them in the form of callouts. Notice how he encourages kids to be themselves, lets them know that having fun is something that will help them grow, reading is something that will take them far, and encourages them to follow their heart. He lets them know that they can become anything they want to become, and go anywhere they want to go.

1. Oh the Places You'll Go
2. Green Eggs and Ham
3. The Cat in the Hat
4. The Lorax
5. How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
6. One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish
7. Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?
8. Hop on Pop
9. Dr. Seuss's ABC
10. Fox in Socks

Dr. Seuss, the prolific writer that he is, has written and illustrated 66 books for children. A variable library of fun, kooky, child-pleasing books. I have only mentioned the top ten.

As public as his life became there are things that you may not know about Dr. Seuss. Such as:

• He wasn't much of a fan of kids - Even though kids around the world love his books he was not enamored of them. He was well known for the following quote: "You have 'em, I'll amuse 'em." As a matter of fact his widow Audrey thought he might even be a bit afraid of them. He was married twice but never had any children of his own.
• He once threatened to sue an anti-abortion group - Oddly enough, a line from his children's book "Horton Hears a Who", put Dr. Seuss into the middle of a controversy. What was that line? "A person's a person, no matter how small." It became a slogan for anti-abortionist groups until he threatened to sue them if they didn't stop using it.
• Green Eggs and Ham was written as a result of a bet - Dr. Seuss's editor, Bennett Cerf, being concerned with the reading levels of the children in 1960 bet him that he would not be able to write a book using only 50. The book was written, using only 50 different words to help encourage children to read to themselves. Dr. Seuss won the bet and a new beginning reader was out on the market.
• The first recorded time the word "Nerd" was used by Dr. Seuss - The word "Nerd" was first used by Dr. Seuss in 1960 in his book "If I Ran the Zoo". It became popular in the 1060's. maybe by being used by his readers.
• Dr. Seuss didn't just write children's books - During the Great Depression he supported himself and his wife drawing cartoons for advertisements. During World War II, while in the armed forces, his job was to create training films for soldiers and war propaganda cartoons..
• As Dr. Seuss he wrote prolifically - He wrote and illustrated 66 children's books. They have sold over 200 million copies and been translated into over 15 languages.

When Dr. Seuss died in 1991 at the age of 87, his birthday was adopted as the annual date for National Read Across America. His love of nonsense, reading, writing, rhyming, and books has brought much to our children and to us as adults. Just seeing his quotes should inspire anyone to pick up a book and get reading.