HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DR. SEUSS!

“Be awesome!  Be a book nut!”  Dr. Seuss

“Think and wonder, wonder and think.”  Dr. Seuss

“You’re never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read to a child.”  Dr. Seuss

Theodore Seuss Geisel was born on March 2, 1904.  His early work includes being a teacher, advertiser and political cartoonist, but he is best known as a children’s author.  Geisel started using the pen name “Dr. Seuss” while attending Dartmouth College. It’s a fun story.  He was caught drinking on campus during prohibition and was ordered to stop working on the campus humor publication called Dartmouth Jack-o-Lantern.  Instead, he published under a different name!  (No wonder I like this guy!)

He published his first book To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street in 1937.  Over his lifetime, he published over 60 books, including classics such as Cat in the Hat (1957), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1957), Green Eggs and Ham (1960) and one of my favorites Horton Hears a Who! (1955). He and his work are loved by millions around the world!  He died from cancer in 1991.  If he were alive today. Dr. Seuss would be celebrating his 113^th birthday.

In 1998, the National Education Association named Dr. Seuss’ birthday as Read Across America Day as a way to celebrate this great man and the love of reading his work often inspires.  A great way to celebrate would be to read one of his books—or really anything at all!  By yourself is fine, but reading with kids is even better.  Giving children the love of reading is one of the best gifts anyone can offer.

I am celebrating today by reading Oh, the Places You’ll Go! written by Dr. Seuss in 1990.  This was the last book Seuss published.  Its main message is to be brave, to get out there doing things, to not let fear and obstacles make you wait, wait, wait.  As Seuss concludes, “Today is your day!  Your mountain is waiting.  So. . . get on your way!”  When initially published, it reached the top of the New York Times Best Selling Fiction Hardcover List.  Every spring, its sales surge a bit as the book is given as a gift for many high school and college graduates.  All his works offer life lessons that are worth sharing at any age!

HOW ARE YOU CELEBRATING READ ACROSS AMERICA DAY?

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE BOOKS FOR YOURSELF OR YOUR KIDS?

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SOME WORDS OF WISDOM FROM DR. SEUSS

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better.  It’s not.”

“I like nonsense; it wakes up the brain cells.”

 “Step with care and great tact, and remember that Life’s a Great Balancing Act.”

 “You have brains in your head.  You have feet in your shoes.  You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.  You’re on your own, and you know what you know.  And you are the guy who’ll decide where to go.”

 

“Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope, and that enables you to laugh at life’s realities.”

 “Think left and think right and think low and think high.  Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try!”

 “Being crazy isn’t enough.”

 “Why fit in when you were born to stand out?”

 “Today was good.  Today was fun.  Tomorrow is another one.”

 “Only you can control your future.”

 “You’ll miss the best things if you keep your eyes shut.”

 “To the world you may be one person; but to one person you may be the world.”

 “There’s no limit to how much you’ll know, depending how far beyond zebra you go.”

 “It’s not about what it is, it’s about what it can become.”

ONE LAST THING:

This is one of Dr. Seuss’ political cartoons from over fifty years ago.  Sad that it still seems relevant today.  I wonder what he would make of the world today.