Library Staff Directory
Posted Feb 26, 2014
Please join us this Saturday for our Seuss Celebration and Read-a-thon in honor of Dr. Seuss’s 110th birthday. We will kick off the festivities at 11 a.m. with a Celebrity Read-In. Fox 6’s Nicole Koglin and Jessob Reisbeck, Today’s TMJ4’s Shannon Sims, comedian/actor Doug Jarecki, and the Admiral’s Roscoe will share some of their favorite Seuss stories. Then join our Read-a-thon. We will be counting total number of pages and minutes read in the library between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.. In the spirit of Seuss, we will be combining reading with play. You can also make a “Cat-ty hat”, enjoy a Seussical snack, play some great games like Green Egg Golf and Pin the Mustache on the Lorax, and enter the prize drawing.
Why such a big bash? Dr. Seuss has done more to promote the love of reading than any other author of children’s books. Theodore Seuss Geisel was born on March 2, 1904. During his lifetime he worked in film, advertising, as a cartoonist, and finally as a children’s book author. His first children’s book, And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street, was published in 1937 after being rejected more than 25 times. Altogether, he wrote and illustrated 44 children’s books. His books have been translated into more than 20 languages and turned into hit movies. He won the Caldecott Honor medal, Pulitzer Prize, three Academy Awards, and the adoration of generations of young readers.
Some of Dr. Seuss’s most popular books were written in response to a challenge. Publisher Bennett Cerf blamed the decline in American children’s reading skills on the quality of books given to young children. If Johnny couldn’t read it was because following Dick and Jane and seeing Spot run weren’t igniting a passion for books. Cerf knew that Dr. Seuss understood children learn best through play. He challenged Seuss to create a book kids couldn’t put down using only 220 basic vocabulary words. The result – The Cat in the Hat (1957) – was a blockbuster hit. The next challenge – Could he do it again with 50 words or less? The answer was One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish (1959) and Green Eggs and Ham (1960). Dr. Seuss wanted kids and their parents to do more than just read. He wanted them to think about the world we live in. In books like The Lorax, The Sneetches, and Butter Battle Book, he used his familiar quirky characters, clever rhymes, and sharp stories to explore how we treat each other and the world we live in.
Decades later his stories still ring true. Who – young or old - hasn’t been tempted to bend the rules when their mother (or father, teacher, boss) is out? Who hasn’t stubbornly refused to try something new or different, then realized how wrong they were? His characters, from kind-hearted Horton to the mischievous Cat in the Hat to the cantankerous Grinch, still delight us. His books still make us think and feel and laugh.
So please join us on Saturday March 1 as we laugh and play the Dr. Seuss way. We promise “lots of good fun that is funny.”
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