Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Image via Wikipedia

And thank you, Dr. Seuss.

Your spirit has taken over our world this week as we use your birthday as an excuse to celebrate reading in our homes and in our schools. I am particularly blessed to have a beginning reader in the house, who is discovering the joys of sounding out words. She read out loud Green Eggs and Ham on Monday, then Hop on Pop last night. With rhymes and deep silliness, you play the trickster and make us fall in-love with language, with the power of words.

The kids' school is getting the kids inspired by having them wear something wacky every day - Monday was green, yesterday was crazy socks, today kids will be wearing read and white, tomorrow pajamas and on Friday, crazy hats.

For two years in a row I participated in Read Across America by reading Dr. Seuss Books at a wonderful charter school in Harlem: I am unable to do that again this year, but I will be doing my own writing and teaching. My daughter will read more of your books!

Thank you for inspiring us to think outside of the box!

Here are some of my favorite Seussisms of yours . . .

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.

I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells.
Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.

The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.

Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope.

So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads.
 

Related articles

• Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss! (firstbook.org)
• "World set to commemorate Dr. Seuss on his 107th birthday" and related posts (personalmoneystore.com)