It’s raining today. Very wet, and quite cold. The rain is pooling in puddles on the icy snow in the front yard. And here I sit on this “cold, cold wet day.” And I’ve just realized that it’s Dr. Seuss’s birthday. Happy birthday, Dr. Seuss! (Yes, I do realize he’s dead, and unlikely to get this message.) And happy Seuss Day to everyone! (There’s a holiday I could get behind.)
I love Dr. Seuss. Well, his books. I didn’t know the man personally.
The Cat in the Hat is his best known masterpiece. This is a story about 2 small children left home alone, who are startled by a tall stranger who enters their home and wants to show them his “things.” Ah yes, those were more innocent times.
I grew up with the culinary classic Green Eggs and Ham. (I will not eat them with a fox, I will not eat them in a box.)
At this point, I think Phoebe’s favorite is The Foot Book, though There’s a Wocket in My Pocket is a close competitor. We have these two in board book form, so they get read to her more often. She hasn’t had as much exposure to reading books with paper pages. Though we did read The Cat in the Hat to pre-Phoebe a bit when she was still in utero.
My favorite as an adult has been Seuss’s moving environmental treatise on the evils of mindless consumerism and the dangers of short-sighted industrialism, with particular focus on the threat to the ecosystem posed by excesses in the logging industry. Many people know it as The Lorax. Which also has pretty pictures of Truffula trees.
And while I don’t have time to really explore them now myself (I have an indeterminate number of minutes before Phoebe awakes from her nap), there are many fun Seuss things out there. (These things are fun, and fun is good.)
Thing 1: The Dr. Seuss parody page. It includes links to such items as “Spam-I-am”:
I would not like it here or there.
I would not like it anywhere.
I do not like your e-mail spam.
I do not like it Spam-I-am.
Thing 2: Dr. Seuss games
Thing 3: An index to the characters and creatures of Dr. Seuss
Thing 4: Pictures from the Dr. Seuss Memorial Sculpture Garden in Springfield, Massachusetts. (Who knew?)
Thing 5: “Who’s Who & What’s What in the Books of Dr. Seuss“, an encyclopedic work available in pdf format from Dartmouth College.
collecting tokens 
i have a copy of the secret life of dr. seuss, which is a wonderful book. highly recommended reading, with fabulous photographs of his non-children’s paintings, illustrations, and sculpture.
oh, also, the art of maurice sendak is a nice one… remember when he spoke at brown?
(and since i seem to be making an impromptu list, i’ll continue with two more)
while in norfolk earlier this week, my mother picked up two absolutely hysterical children’s books:
five little gefiltes, an adaptation of a kids’ rhyme with wonderful pictures and a glossary of the yiddish terms used throughout (oy vey, mensch, etc.), and
365 penguins, which may or may not be a translation from french and is for slightly older (4-6, i’d guess) kidlets.
jenny-
Thanks for the book recommendations. They sound great. (And actually, I don’t remember when Maurice Sendak spoke at Brown. I must have missed that talk.)