Dr. Seuss

Today is the anniversary of the death in 1991 of Dr. Seuss. Just hearing the name brings back fond memories...

Bartholomew and the Oobleck:

Shuffle, duffle, muzzle, muff.
Fista, wista, mista-cuff.
We are men of groans and howls!
Mystic men, who eat boiled owls!

Green Eggs and Ham:

Would you like them
in a house?
Would you like them
with a mouse?

I do not like them
in a house.
I do not like them
with a mouse.
I do not like them
here or there.
I do not like them
anywhere.
I do not like green eggs and ham.
I do not like them, Sam-I-am.

The Sneetches and Other Stories is filled with treasures. "The Sneetches" opens with

Now, the Star-Bellied Sneetches had bellies with stars.
The Plain-Bellied Sneetches had none upon thars.

"The Zax" had those two stubborn Zax in each other's way "not budging". I could always identify with those Zax.

"Too Many Daves" begins this way:

Did I ever tell you that Mrs. McCave
Had twenty-three sons and she named them all Dave?

and the names suggested as better than "Dave" are wonderful:

And often she wishes that, when they were born,
She had named one of them Bodkin Van Horn
And one of them Hoos-Foos. And one of them Snimm.
And one of them Hot-Shot. And one Sunny Jim.

Many more are named, and we had the whole list memorized. We had this whole book memorized.

"What Was I Scared Of?" scared us with those pale green pants with nobody inside them. Definitely creepy!

And a perennial favorite even now is How the Grinch Stole Christmas, which The Elder Son could recite from memory when he was no more than 2, like Cindy Lou Who.

There is a Dr. Seuss Memorial Garden in Massachusetts.

The American Library Association gives the Geisel Award annually

to the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished American book for beginning readers published in English in the United States during the preceding year. The winner(s), recognized for their literary and artistic achievements that demonstrate creativity and imagination to engage children in reading, receives a bronze medal. Honor Book authors and illustrators receive certificates, which are presented at the ALA Annual Conference. The award was established in 2004 and first presented in 2006.