Theodor Seuss Geisel – better known to the world as Dr. Seuss – was born March 2, 1904. To say that Geisel has had a powerful influence on generations of children – many of us now adults – is a vast understatement.
For me, and I imagine for many parents, it’s wonderful to be able to read to my son the same Dr. Seuss books I loved as a child. He loves them so much that I have a handful of them memorized so I can tell him those stories when we don’t have the books with us. Having his lyric words in my head whenever I need them has been a gift to me, too. I catch myself reciting them even without the J-Man around and feel better for it.
It’s a dream of most anyone who puts pen to paper and writes that we might be able to do even a small fraction of what Dr. Seuss did. The gifts he left us will endure forever.
Of my 35 years on this earth, I’ve spent about 21 of them in school of some sort. My favorite teacher was my high school English instructor, Dr. Jon Miller. At our Christmas semi-formal dances he read the Grinch. I first heard him read it 19 years ago, and I still remember it like it was yesterday. Imagine all these high school kids in ties, slacks, and dresses sitting around in a big circle for storytime.
He does a reading of the Grinch for the alumni every holiday, and we’ve taken the J-Man twice to hear him (missed last year). That’s been a real gift to us. I hope when he retires, probably sometime in the next few years, that he realizes what a profound effect he’s had on now two generations of people.
If you’ve read out the Dr. Seuss collection at your library or bookstore and are looking for some books from another author to try out, your first stop should be Sandra Boynton. Her books are absolutely brilliant.
I picked my hat for the Autism Ribbon Run last October for a reason. Dr. Seuss Forever!!
[The Cat Daddy in the Hat and the J-Man I Am!]
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- Simple Gifts
- Happy Birthday, Fred Rogers, and Happy World Storytelling Day!
- What My Hero Taught Me About Parenting an Autistic Child
- All I Want for Christmas is…
- All the Good Things
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Dr. Seuss. How could we ever have survived without him.
Best wishes