Ted Geisel

Can you say genius?! I'll admit that growing up and well into early adulthood I was never a huge fan of Dr. Seuss. Yes, I liked Green Eggs and Ham (even though it slightly grossed me out) and I learned to "read" from Hop on Pop, but people would just gush over Dr. Seuss and I never understood why. I suspect that it had something to do with his illustrations; I thought they were unrealistic and not very colorful and his characters were too abstract (I think more like a child now than I did when I was a kid). I actually felt bad for not loving or feeling drawn to Dr. Seuss. His books would be on sale and my mom or sisters would tell me "OOH! Dr. Seuss is on sale you have to get these!" "Every teacher needs him." "How can you not buy them?!" I wanted to like him, I wanted to love him, but I just didn't get it. Yes, his rhymes were quirky, yes his stories were fun, but I didn't want them...not even one. ;)

UNTIL....as a graduation present my Grams bought me Your Favorite Seuss. It's a large anthology of 13 of Dr. Seuss' most loved creations ranging from his first book And to Think That I saw It on Mulberry Street to his last Oh, the Places You'll Go! Each story is prefaced by a brief essay from various people familar with Seuss. Such people as: his wife Audrey, a kindergarten teacher, a children's librarian, a historian, the creator of Berenstain Bears and others. I attribute my new understanding of Seuss to these essays and to Seuss himself.

While enrolled in Children's Literature at BYU-Idaho I learned that The Lorax (a story that always reminds me of my older sister) is considered controversial, mainly in the eastern and western regions of the country, becuase of it's lesson on ecological awareness. Just think, if you lived in Oregon or Washington and your father was a lumber jack but an environmentalist raised enough hoopla to end his job...then where would you be? This is barely the beginning, except for his early readers series, the majority of Seuss books have a political background. It is for this reason that I find the man Theodore "Seuss" Geisel a genius! He could talk politics to children and parents in an unoffensive way. Better yet he did it without brainwashing, he did it with pseudowords, illustrations, and rhymes!! An entire book with a political view that rhymes! It blows my mind. The Cat in the Hat is a revolt against authority, The Sneetches a teacher of tolerance, Yertle the Turtle a teacher of sympathy and a lesson against anti-semitism, The Butter Battle Book teaches against the nuclear arms race....and the list goes on. Some of his lessons were more obvious than others and yet they still fell under our anti-teaching radars. I can't believe I didn't see it sooner. I'm a stickler for buying children's books with a message or moral and Seuss books without one are rare.

Yes, I am converted.

I finally understand the method behind the madness. His ImAgInaTioN was endless and I even like his illustrations! If you don't, then look again...and again...and again.