Dr. Seuss' Birthday!

March 2 is the birthday of Theodor Seuss Geisel, more commonly known by his penname, Dr. Suess. Throughout his lifetime, he wrote about fifty books, of which half were bestsellers, and many of which are popular children's classics to this very day. Some of them, like Horton Hatches the Egg, were written nearly seventy years ago, while others, like Oh, the Places You'll Go! were written less than twenty years ago.

In my mind's eye, Dr. Seuss is a man with a lazy smile and a funny hat tilted on his head, much like the cat in The Cat in the Hat. When I look at a photograph of him, he does look like the sort of man who would make pleasant company, yet I cannot reconcile this picture of him with the image in my mind. I will persist in thinking of him as a mischievous cat, a cat that tells the most marvelous rhyming stories and messes up the house!

It is sadly ironic that Dr. Seuss never had any children, but it is some consolation that his books are beloved by children everywhere. I loved all his books as a child, and still like glancing through them occasionally, marveling at the simple wisdom and subtle morals apparent in Dr. Seuss' books.

The Sneetches, one of my favorites, is about these snobby-looking yellow creatures. Some of them have stars on their bellies, some of them don't, and when a man comes along with a machine that can either print stars on their bellies and/or remove them, things go wild. The original Sneetches with stars on their bellies, who used to be the superior ones, are angry because now everyone has the chance to look like one of them. So the original Sneetches rush to remove their stars, but of course everyone follows, trying to mimic the superior ones...and they rush about, star on, star off, until nobody can remember who were the superior ones and they all realize how stupid they've been, chasing after something that doesn't really matter in the long run. How stupid we are sometimes, judging people by what they wear and how they look, rushing to change ourselves to be more like everyone else, until nobody remembers what they're like deep inside and who they really want to be, because we've all been lying to ourselves for so long...

Another favorite of mine was I'm Not Going to Get Up Today! Oh, I really loved this book. It proved that I wasn't the only lazy person in existence. Other people too, I realized, wouldn't mind just snoozing with not a care in the world. So many people would simply love to drop everything and say 'The alarm can ring. The birds can peep... Today's the day I'm going to sleep!' And in this book, the character actually gives in and the reader feels this immense satisfaction, because let's face it, every one of us has given in to temptation at one point or another and said, 'That's it. Today's the day I do what I want to do.' And sometimes, the decisions you make when you act on those feelings can end up changing your life.

The National Education Association (yeah, I never heard of them either, until today, but come on, there's an association for everything, it's only logical that there would be one for national education!) has designated Dr. Seuss' birthday as Read Across America Day, focusing on the impact children's literature can have, and how important it is to encourage and motivate children to read.

Until today, his funny-looking characters, colorful places, clever rhyming and wonderful ideas make kids all over the world smile, think and imagine. It kindles that spark, alive in all children, fanning it into a life-long love for reading. There is a reason Dr. Seuss is beloved by children and adults alike. One only has to read his books to know why.

In conclusion, this quote by Dr. Seuss aptly sums up the essence of his books, with all the grace and wit that is his trademark: "I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells."