My husband and I both grew up reading Dr. Seuss books, a tradition we’ve carried on with our kids – our bookshelves hold several Dr. Seuss titles. The kids love it when we read them Fox in Socks (though it’s all I can do to get halfway through it) and Green Eggs and Ham; ever since he was a little boy, my husband’s absolute favourite has been In A People House.
I recently happened upon a short article that discussed ten Dr. Seuss titles, and the meanings and rumours behind them. It included a few titles I’d never heard of – for example, If I Ran The Zoo, published in 1950, is the first record instance of the word ‘nerd’. Dr. Seuss wrote The Cat in the Hat because he thought Dick and Jane books were insufferably boring (and right he was!), and Green Eggs and Ham was the result of a bet – that he couldn’t write a book using just 50 words (clearly, he won that bet).
A couple more interesting tidbits: The Butter Battle Book is one of his less familiar titles, which might have something to do with it being taken off of library shelves for a while due to its Cold War and arms race references. Oh The Places You’ll Go is the last book he published, and probably one of his most popular – it’s given to around 300,000 high school and university graduates each year.
This spring, my four-year-old son started reading, using his copy of Hop on Pop – a tried and tested crowd-pleaser in this household. I’ve always liked One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish and And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street myself. What about you – what’s your favourite Dr. Seuss book?
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Greeen Eggs and Ham is by far the best, Fox in Sox is a bit too challenging, and I think The Lorax overly preachy. I should get The Butter Battle thoguh, and I seem to recall a volume with Yertle the Turtle and the Pants with Nobody in them, plus an extra third. Hmm, must be time to head to the library. I am about to accidentally “lose” Goodnight Moon and Pat the Bunny. Love ‘em, but hate ‘em, ya know?
GingerB´s last [type] ..Fifth disease- because six is too many and four is not enough
I love “Wacky Wednesday” and “Oh, The Thinks You Can Think”,,,”and what would you do if you met a Jiboo?”