Children’s Poetry - The beloved Dr. Seuss
Perhaps one of the best known and most beloved authors of children’s poetry is Dr. Seuss. Theodor Seuss Geisel, otherwise known as Dr. Seuss, is celebrated all over America, especially on his birthday. March 2 has been designated by the National Education Association as “Read Across America Day.” The “Read Across America” program was established to promote reading every day not just on Dr. Seuss’s birthday. Special activities are planned and the kids can dress up as a favorite book character. Many of the children choose to dress up as and read “The Cat in the Hat” one of Theodor Geisel’s most well known books and works of children’s poetry.
The beloved children’s poetry author was born on March 2, 1904, in Springfield, Massachusetts. Theodor acknowledges his mother as giving him the ability to create rhymes, as she would often chant rhymes to her children to get them to go to sleep at night. Theodor later became well known for writing children’s poetry using rhymes and creating funny characters and odd words that sparked the imagination.
As a teenager, Ted attended Dartmouth College where he became the editor-in-chief of Dartmouth’s humor magazine. It is in this magazine that he first signed his name “Seuss” and started using it as a pseudonym. Theodor went on to Oxford University after his graduation from Dartmouth.
Theodor later returned to the United States where he pursued a career as a cartoonist and also created advertising campaigns. He went on to contribute works to Life Magazine and Vanity Fair. Theodor got his first big break in children’s poetry and literature when he was asked to illustrate a collection of sayings for children. His first book, “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street,” was rejected twenty-seven times before it was finally published by Vanguard Press. Next came the book that defined his career—“The Cat in the Hat” which solidified his career as a writer of children’s poetry and as an illustrator as well.
Some of Theodor’s all-time favorite and most popular works of children’s poetry are Green Eggs and Ham, Fox in Sox, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas, which of course, is a holiday cartoon that is loved by young and old alike. My son’s favorite book when he was a toddler was “The Foot Book.” We would have to read it over and over and over again. This is a fine example of children’s poetry that even a young child can enjoy and even memorize, page by page. My son knew all the words, and I don’t think I’ll ever forget them either! “Left foot, right foot! Feet! Feet! Feet! Oh how many feet you meet.”
Perhaps my favorite line of all Dr. Seuss books is from “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”–“And what happened then, well in Whoville they say, the Grinch’s small heart grew three sizes that day.” Everyone’s heart has been touched in some way or another by the unique, sometimes silly, but always enjoyable children’s poetry that was created by Theodor Geisel.