It's a Seussical Day

Happy Birthday Theodor Geisel! In honor of your birthday and the wonderful contributions you made to our childhoods, I took a stab at a rhyme about you...

There once was a doctor named Seuss
who I'm told looked not at all like a moose
his rhymes were unique and funny
and maybe just a little bit punny
but his imagination taught us all to let loose.

I remember with great affection reading many Dr. Seuss books when I was little...The Cat In The Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, The Grinch, and both Horton the Elephant books. I love reading these books to my children today. While I was looking up a few things for this post, I rediscovered some information I had learned last year. Did you know Green Eggs and Ham was written because of a bet? Geisel's publisher bet him $50 that he couldn't write a book using only 50 words. 50 years later, this 50 word book is still going strong.

Do you have a favorite Dr. Seuss book or are you just a fan in general? Two of my favprite Seuss books are ones that go against his normal format. I really enjoy The Kings Stilts which is written in prose instead of the rhyming verse that is his normal style. I also really adore You're Only Old Once! You're Only Old Once is Seuss's second adult book. His first adult book was The Seven Lady Godivas and it flopped rather miserably. In fact, after this book flopped, "he stated that he would 'rather write for kids', who were more appreciative, and was no longer interested in writing for adults. Indeed, his general contempt for adults is evident in his oft-repeated quote: 'Adults are obsolete children, and the hell with them.'" I think we reaped the dividends of him immersing himself in children's literature. Without that focus, we would have missed out on a lot of wonderful books.

Despite the light-hearted, fun nature of many of his books, they offer many wonderful quotes that really apply to our every day life. My favorite quote from Dr. Seuss is “Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.” Not a bad way to look at life.