Each year, the birthday of Dr. Seuss is celebrated by children, teachers, and schools across the country as “Read Across America Day”. This year marks 100 years of Dr. Seuss, a man who turned his talents to children’s literature after reading an article in Life magazine that reported that one of the greatest challenges in teaching children to read was finding interesting books. Apparently, the children were bored with the material they were given.
Knowing he could do something, the world was given The Cat in the Hat, Horton Hears a Who, Green Eggs and Ham, and countless other books that have become true American classics.
Here are some interesting facts you may not know about Dr. Seuss:
1) He began his career as a political cartoonist.
2) His last name is actually Giesel; he adopted the pen name “Seuss” after he got caught throwing a drinking party at his college, Dartmouth, (during Prohibition) and was banned from contributing to the school’s literary journal, The Dartmouth Jack-o-Lantern. He then adopted his mother’s maiden name “Seuss” in order to make secret contributions to the publication.
3) Dr. Seuss never had children of his own.
4) Green Eggs and Ham was the result of a bet contending that he could not write a complete book using only 50 words or less.
So, join in celebrating one of America’s most important and prolific writers and be sure to read some extra books with your child(ren) today….and every day.
“Adults are just obsolete children and the hell with them.” – Dr. Seuss
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