Today, I’m wishing a belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Dr. Seuss!!
Due to jury duty and other ‘interesting activities’ yesterday, I didn’t get this posted as planned. March 2nd would’ve been the 107th birthday of Mr. Theodor Seuss Geisel.
The correct German pronunciation of his surname sounds like “Soice,” (which rhymes with ”voice”). He switched the pronunciation of his pen name to the Anglicized version of ”Soose,” because he thought it would be helpful in his writing career if his name were more closely associated with the name Mother Goose!
My introduction to Dr. Seuss was in the early 1960′s. During high school, I worked Saturday mornings and summers at our local library. My summer duties included being in charge of Children’s Story Hour once a week. Would you believe I used to read Green Eggs and Ham to some of the people who are now my Facebook friends?!! LOL!
The early Dr. Seuss books really made reading come alive for little children. They were just different from the other children’s easy-readers. I remember them as some of the most whimsical, colorful books back in the ’60s, and they flew off the shelves in the “E” section of our library! Toddlers and most pre-schoolers couldn’t read, but they surely could recognize their Seuss friends on book covers(!)
Seuss’ biographical information is very interesting. I had planned to put some of it on here, but have decided instead to offer these links and let you read for yourselves, if any of you are interested. You can find numerous links when ‘Googling,’ but I want to point out two websites that I particularly enjoyed visiting — maybe you will, too!
SEUSSVILLE
DR. SEUSS NATIONAL MEMORIAL
The last Dr. Seuss book I purchased was a gift for my parents in the mid 1980′s, when — as senior citizens — they were spending major amounts of their time in doctors’ offices, labs, and hospitals. They enjoyed the fact that the then elderly Dr. Seuss was experiencing what they were experiencing (he was four years older than my dad) – and that he was writing their story!! I highly recommend this one as a gift — if the older person you will be gifting has a sense of humor! Thankfully, my parents could laugh (much of the time, at least) at their difficulties. It helped them, and it helped the rest of our family, too!
Dr. Seuss wanted to help children learn not only how to read, but how to think. Also, he didn’t sugarcoat life; he approached it honestly and head-on. He wrote about hurt, pain, loneliness, and other hardships — but he always wrote with a sense of humor and suggested a positive outlook for the problem at hand. It’s hard to read a Dr. Seuss book to a child (or to oneself) and come away with a grumpy attitude(!)
I also have a collection of Dr. Seuss quotes, which I hope to post later. For now, I will leave you with one of my favorites. It’s from a book our son received for high school graduation from one of his cousins — Oh, the Places You’ll Go – a good read for children/young adults entering any new phase of their lives.
“You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You’re on your own.
And you know what you know.
And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go…”
Good night, friends…or as Dr. Seuss would say, “Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.” I hope this helps you end your day with a smile. 
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