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Ted Geisel (Dr. Seuss) half-length portrait, seated at desk covered with his books / World Telegram & Sun photo by Al Ravenna. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Everyone knows who Dr. Seuss is right? I mean I shouldn’t have to explain who he is, but I also probably shouldn’t be making assumptions that he’s known by EVERYONE.
So for those of you who are unfamiliar, Dr. Seuss is an author and poet. He has written countless children’s books which include such popular works like Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I honestly don’t think I have even read every single one of his books. But every one I have read has been great. And they are the perfect beginning reader books.
The author known to the world as Dr. Seuss was born March 2, 1904 as Theodor Seuss Geisel and he died September 24 1991. He began his career as a newspaper cartoonist and eventually was asked to illustrate a children’s series. This was his break into children’s literature. He published his first book And To Think I Saw It On Mulberry Street in 1937. He wrote a few more children’s books after that and eventually lead to him being challenged to write a book which contained 220 vocabulary words in response to an article which said children in America were not reading well. This book was The Cat In The Hat and it was published in 1957. Dr. Seuss has been wildly popular and his use of nonsense words in his writing has become such a great tool in teaching children to read.
Read Across America
In 1998 the first Read Across America was held on Dr. Seuss’ birthday. Probably isn’t a more fitting day to have this challenge. What Read Across America is is a way to get children excited about reading and turn them into lifelong readers. Because studies show that children who are motivated and read more perform better in school.
So every year on March 2 the country holds events which promote reading. And since this year March 2nd falls on a Saturday the schools celebrated on the 1st instead. My children had special guest readers come in from the community to read to them and they received a Horton Gives A Who notebook and a few other little trinkets. They also got to celebrate their principals birthday as she just so happens to share a birthday with Dr. Seuss. How fun is that?
We’re Celebrating Dr. Seuss’ Birthday
I couldn’t let the day go unrecognized around here though. Even though the kids had their celebration at school I plan on having a few special treats for the kids here at home. I planned a dinner of Roast Beast in honor of How The Grinch Stole Christmas because you know he even stole the feast of Roast Beast. Hopefully he won’t steal our feast. I could have gone classic with green eggs and ham, but my husband doesn’t like breakfast for dinner. There was one fish two fish of course too, but we aren’t fish eaters. So Roast Beast seemed like a suitable choice.
Now of course a celebration would just not be a celebration without cake. I am making a Cat in the Hat cake. It’s really quite simple. A quarter sheet cake cut out like the hat from Cat in the Hat and then dye some coconut red and make red and white stripes in coconut on the frosted cake. I did this one year for my middle daughter when she was in preschool and it was a huge hit. I’m sure it will land big with my kids again this year.
And we couldn’t celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday without reading some of his books. I will let the kids choose of course, but I will have to sneak my personal favorite in there, Who Are You Sue Snue? What’s your favorite Dr. Seuss book?
Nothing big and nothing fancy, but just enough to get the kids excited about reading. And we all love reading Dr. Seuss.
Are you doing anything fun to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday and Read Across America?
