Today, thousands of students, teachers, librarians, and parents will celebrate books and reading.

Theodor Seuss Geisel is known by many as Dr. Seuss, the author of popular and enduring children's books. Theodor Geisel was born on March 2, 1904, in Springfield, Massachusetts. Geisel began his career as a cartoonist, and many of his illustrations and cartoons were published in famous magazines, such as LIFE. He used the pen name "Seuss" on a cartoon that he published in The Saturday Evening Post in 1927. By 1937 he added "Dr" to his name when he had his first children's book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, published. That book was rejected 27 times before it was finally accepted by a publisher!!

Many children learn to read using the books Dr. Seuss wrote because those books are written with very few different words. In fact, Green Eggs and Ham was written using only 50 different words! The Cat in the Hat is another book that helped children learn to read because it contained less than three hundred different words. Dr. Seuss' books are easy and fun to read because of the silly, rhyming, outlandish stories and the dynamic, memorable characters. Readers of all ages enjoy his books. Some of his books, like Oh, the Places You'll Go!, are often given as graduation gifts because of the positive messages and important themes in their pages.

In 1998, the National Education Association introduced Read Across America Day to students and teachers aross the country. Read Across America Day is a celebration of books and reading, inspired by Dr. Seuss. Today, thousands of students, teachers, librarians, and parents continue to spend March 2nd sharing and talking about books. Break through the locks so you can help celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday!

Works Cited

“Dr. Seuss.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 12 Mar. 2015, www.biography.com/people/dr-seuss-9479638#personal-life-and-later-years.

Inspired by James Sanders, Mark Hammons, BreakoutEDU.com as well as

by Justin Birckbichler's and Mari Venturino's work at DigitalBreakout.

(c) 2017 Cynthia Cassidy. E-mail ccassidy@warrentboe.org with questions.

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