In the history of children’s books, there are few authors as beloved and oft quoted as Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss.
The writer, illustrator, and poet took the pen name in college, and carried it with him through advertising campaigns during the Great Depression and political cartoons during and after World War II. During his lifetime, Geisel was the recipient of two Academy awards, two Emmy awards, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal, a Peabody award, and the Pulitzer Prize. But his children’s books may always be the work for which he is known.
Covering a wide variety of (sometimes controversial) issues, his children’s books teach morality as well as literacy. From racial inequality (The Sneetches) to consumerism (How the Grinch Stole Christmas) to the arms race (The Butter Battle Book), Geisel always considered his own work “subversive as hell.”
After reading a study on declining literacy rates in a 1954 Life magazine, the director of Houghton Mifflin’s education division challenged Geisel to write an early reader using nothing but 348 words deemed important for first graders to know. Geisel used only 236, creating The Cat in the Hat. The later Green Eggs and Ham was written using only 50 different words.
Today, the National Education Association honors Dr. Seuss’s birthday every year by sponsoring National Read Across America Day. This year’s closest school day falls on Monday, March 3, 2014. The literacy initiative allows students and teachers to celebrate something many learn from Dr. Seuss – their love of reading – by decorating classrooms, holding pep rallies, eating green eggs and ham breakfasts, and generally enjoying the camaraderie that reading can facilitate.
The POP Project wants to know what your plans are for National Read Across America Day. Share your plans and programs with us in the comments below!