Celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday by reading to your kid canada.com Take a look at an interesting article we found.
A colorful chaos with the Cat, Horton, and friends Boston Globe Take a look at an interesting article we found.
NCAE Celebrates Read Across America Day on March 2 with Sponsorship of Seussical the Musical at the Carolina Theatre in Durham PR Newswire Take a look at an interesting article we found.
At 78, Clint Eastwood still likes to play the tough guy but he is also a doting father and a champion of great female roles.
March 02, 2009
In May 1954, Life magazine published a report on illiteracy that concluded that children were not learning to read because their beginner books were boring.
The good doctor responded.
Using only 220 words he created a new language for children.
“The Sun did not shine.
It was too wet to play.
So we sat in the house
All that cold, cold, wet day.”
He wrote the book, as he wrote most of his books, in anapestic tetrameter, a meter employed by Lord Byron. But, in this one, just when you got used to the cadence, he’d mix it up a bit.
"So all we could do was to Sit! Sit! Sit! Sit!
And we did not like it. Not one little bit."
Enter a tall, anthropomorphic, mischievous cat, wearing a tall, red and white striped hat, a bowtie, and the Run Spot Run's of the world were history.
“I know it is wet
And the sun is not sunny
But we can have
Lots of good fun that is funny!”
He wrote and illustrated over 60 children’s books in all. The success of the “The Cat in the Hat” prompted him and his wife to write others in the series like, “Fox in Socks” and “Green Eggs and Ham.”
He’s been translated into 20 languages.
Although I’d imagine his “Wockets, Whos, Bunches of Hunches, Bar-ba-loots and Grinches would stay exactly as they are, don’t you think?
He once remarked that if he were invited to a party with his characters, he wouldn't show up.
Theodore Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, turns 105 today.
The Dr. part was his usual bit of whimsy.
Sent overseas to Oxford, he dropped out of his doctorate studies in English literature at Oxford, deciding it was "astonishingly irrelevant."
Then added his title as a bit of a joke to appease his father, who wasn't all that amused.
“I like nonsense, he said. "It wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, It's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. And that enables you to laugh at life's realities.”
Dr. Seuss and his wife Helen had no children of their own.
But that was a mere technicality. They had had hundreds of millions of them, of all ages, looking through that "wrong" end of a telescope with him.
It's certainly the end I prefer. How about you?
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland cmu.edu Take a look at an interesting article we found.
A.A. Milne just-pooh.com Take a look at an interesting article we found.
The Beatrix Potter Society pottersociety.org Take a look at an interesting article we found.
still thinking about today...
Favorite children's author?
12% 50% 12% 8% 8% 12%
While a foreman, who had grown weary of our spending time during a slow period, assigning extremely obscene alternate definitions to the thousands of annoying company acronyms, was asking for something less objectionable- I wrote this:
In a queue, at the New Amsterdam loo
A man danced on one foot, another on two
Before he had finished, two similar gems had been added by others. It went on for almost a year, sadly, at just about that level. A ream of it.
We were not called upon to reject publication offers.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Dr. Seuss ... and Many, Many More Happy Returns !!!
My Favorite when I'm a kid, and the favorite of all eight of my kids, and all my Grandchildren ,,,,,,,
It was because of Dr. Seuss that Ii could understand, enjoy, and appreciate Ogden Nash ...
Dr. Seuss truly is, The Cat In The Hat .......
good morning all from the land of
well, the land of pretty much just like yesterday, only not rainy.
No snow here, despite the fond wishes of lots and lots of folks
strike two, you might say.
Nearby towns and governments and schools have stuck by their cancellations and postponements, but somebody else got our white stuff.
I read those books to my wee girl
She loved them best in all the world
I read them also to my boys
Who liked them better than their toys
They read them here, they read them there,
They read them in their underwear!
They read those books before their meals
And after, in the car, on wheels
They read the book about a fox
They loved to read about his sox
They read about green eggs and ham
That wee nay-sayer Sam I Am!
We read them once on a ferry boat
It mattered not that we were afloat
Seuss books are good against seasickness
They confer skills such as mental quickness!
So read these books to every kid
And someday you'll be glad you did!
From this morning's Milwaukee paper. Notice that until it reaches a foot and a half, it's all 'flurries.'
A very focused band of lake effect showers that developed since midnight has dropped more than seven inches of snow over southern Milwaukee County, which could see up to 15 inches in some areas before the heavy flurries stop this morning, according to the National Weather Service.
I Love the Grand Dr. Seuss ~ when I worked for one of the DNR Conservation Camps we would have The Lorax read to our bunk everynight before lights out.
Had a H.S. English teacher read Oh the Places you will Go on our last day of class. Which proves Dr. Seuss is timeless & ageless.
Has anyone else ever noticed that The Cat In the Hat was a very long book to read aloud to kids & they ALWAYS knew when you tried to skip a page of it?...
rings90,
Yes!
Dr. Seuss,
I raise my spork and knifoon: Salute!
My husband and I renewed our wedding vows this year. He is a very funny guy and so is our minister. So this is the wedding vows I was presented with at our wedding renewal service - (they left the crown in tears!):
Pastor: Will you answer me right now
These questions, as your wedding vow?
Groom: Yes, I will answer right now
Your questions as my wedding vow.
Pastor: Will you take her as your wife?
Will you love her all your life?
Groom: Yes, I take her as my wife,
Yes, I'll love her all my life.
Pastor: Will you have, and also hold
Just as you have at this time told?
Groom: Yes, I will have, and I will hold,
Just as I have at this time told,
Yes, I will love her all my life
As I now take her as my wife.
Pastor: Will you love through good and bad?
Whether you're happy or sad?
Groom: Yes, I'll love through good and bad,
Whether we're happy or sad,
Yes, I will have and I will hold
Just as I have already told,
Yes, I will love her all my life,
Yes, I will take her as my wife!
Pastor: Will you love her if you're rich?
Or if you're poor, and in a ditch?
Groom: Yes, I'll love her if we're rich,
And I will love her in a ditch,
I'll love her through good times and bad,
Whether we are happy or sad,
Yes, I will have, and I will hold
(I could have sworn this has been told!)
I promise to love all my life
This woman, as my lawful wife!
Pastor: Will you love her when you're fit,
And also when you're feeling sick?
Groom: Yes, I'll love her when we're fit,
And when we're hurt, and when we're sick,
And I will love her when we're rich
And I will love her in a ditch
And I will love through good and bad,
And I will love when glad or sad,
And I will have, and I will hold
Ten years from now a thousandfold,
Yes, I will love for my whole life
This lovely woman as my wife!
Pastor: Will you love with all your heart?
Will you love till death you part?
Groom: Yes, I'll love with all my heart
From now until death do us part,
And I will love her when we're rich,
And when we're broke and in a ditch,
And when we're fit, and when we're sick,
(Oh, CAN'T we get this finished quick?)
And I will love through good and bad,
And I will love when glad or sad,
And I will have, and I will hold,
And if I might now be so bold,
I'll love her my entire life,
Yes, I WILL take her as my wife!
Pastor: Then if you'll take her as your wife,
And if you'll love her all your life,
And if you'll have, and if you'll hold,
From now until the stars grow cold,
And if you'll love through good and bad,
And whether you're happy or sad,
And love in sickness, and in health,
And when you're poor, and when in wealth,
And if you'll love with all your heart,
From now until death do you part,
Yes, if you'll love her through and through,
Please answer with these words:
Pastor and Groom: I DO!
Pastor: You're married now! So kiss the bride,
But please, do keep it dignified.
What fun, and on the dinner menu...........?
"Goodnight Moon" by Margaret Wise Brown, is an absolute classic. The perfect get them to bed book. It sometimes even works.
And a perfectly good day to read Seuss on the east coast, with the schools closed. I am going for Green Eggs and Ham now. Okay...I'm coming!
Somehow (I don't know how) I never heard of Dr. Suess until I was an adult...
And the daughters of my customers are aghast when I tell them my sisters never played with Barbies since they hadn't been invented yet....
It's very disconcerting to 'miss out' on cultural icons. It happened to me again after I'd lived overseas for six years straight and on my return folks talked about TV series and 'stars' I'd never heard of....
Call me Rip Van Winkle....
Cynthia! I'm laughing so hard just trying to imagine how your face changed as you realized A) what they were about, and B) how he had done this to surprise you.
Unbelievable. I love it.
Stoney and Rings,
They ALWAYS know when you've missed a page. ALWAYS.
I would love to tell you we had Ice cream sundaes called Schlopp from "The Thinks You Can Think" served with a cherry on top, Goldfish in mini bowls - I did make a ‘dirt cake' for my daughters 7th birthday and put a ‘cotton candy tree' in the ‘dirt cake' pot - called it a Truffula Tree from The Lorax. Or we could have had pita bread pocket sandwiches for There's a Wocket in My Pocket - Or one of these wonderful cakes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20BfUTAFbR4
but alas I did not know they were going to do the Dr. Seuss vows. Our grandchildren loved it. It took a few minutes for the guest - and me - to figure out what was going on. We had the ceremony by the pond on our property and I would love to had some Dr. Seuss decorations too. It was a ton of fun!
OLIVIA:
Marvelous Piece !!!
CYNTHIA:
Sounds like you've got a Keeper .......
RIP:
Have lived here all my life, except for years I spent In Country, and there are plenty of, "Stars" I've never heard of or seen on screen ....... All the Real Actors are dying out, and child rearing is done pretty much by Television and Computer these days .......
We have one main bookshelf in our living room. Most of the books are stored in tupperware bins in the basement. A serious pain to move, btw. I know this will illustrate the extent of my neurosis, but I like the shelf's contents to reflect my approach to life. It's the mecca of our home. It's the medicine cabinet, the shrink, the business consultant, the muse . . .
I believe my sons are equal members of the family, so they get equal shares of the shelf space. They also get equal shares of the chores, (so you know). I rotate their books every so often, to and from the basement collection, but Dr. Seuss generally makes up almost fifty percent of their daily library. I absolute agree with Seuss. Fantasy "wakes up the brain cells."
The three of us had the following conversation over breakfast:
Me: Do you guys remember which Dr. Seuss book has the tweedle beetles who battle with paddles?
Max (age 3): It's Sox Fox, mommy.
William (age 7): NO. It's Fox IN Sox (sticking out his Cheerio-covered tongue at his brother).
Me: (To William) You know you're supposed to wear red today for Dr. Seuss's birthday. I was thinking of putting a blue shirt under your red fleece since Red Fish, Blue Fish is your favorite.
William: NO. Mrs. S said it HAS to be red and WHITE like Cat in the Hat. Not BLUE.
Me: Fine. But the only white you have right now is an oxford.
Him: A button shirt?
Me: Yep.
Him: Maybe we could do blue.
Me: I think Dr. Seuss would appreciate your 'out of the box-ness' on his special day.
Him: Will you email Mrs. S and explain?
Me: (suppressing a grin) Or you could just tell her. I know she'd love it.
Him: MOM!!!!
Please pause to look at this picture of William:
http://www.petermanseye.com/photos/1216
And this one of Max, Mr. Sox Fox:
http://www.petermanseye.com/photos/1756
Like I said, our bookshelf seconds as medicine cabinet. William was born serious. A thinker. An observer of all things social. I wonder where he gets that? I know from years of teaching myself, that his greatest challenge will be to take himself less seriously and not put an unhealthy weight on what others think of him.
I often prescribe him 'extra-Seuss.'
Max IS fantasy. He doesn't even walk in a straight line. I ADORE that about him. But when it gets him in trouble, as it's bound to do from time to time, I ration his Seuss and put him on a hearty diet of reading aloud from books like, "The Rules of Anapestic Tetrameter," or "Why shooting nerf darts at your grandfather's new light fixtures is a bad idea, repeated 100 times."
It's all about balance. We just lean a bit toward the silly side.
At lunch today, I served grilled cheese dippers and tomato soup. Max wanted to "light up the candles for Dr. Seuss's birf-day." I said fine. He proceeded to gather every candle in the house and put them on the dining room table. By the time I lit them all, the soup was tepid, which is fine since he generally ends up wearing it.
The two of us dipped in fine style.
Cheer, Dr. Seuss.
M.I.,
One of our favorite lunches but today it was tomato soup and toasted sesame nuggets- killer and easier but less robust.
Thanks for having us over.
iS
Trying to figure what to wear to my first Job Interview in about 10 years.. Am begining to think the Striped Socks & the Black & White Striped Top Hat is NOT the ideal Interview outfit... Too bad more people can't seem to have a sense of Dr. Seuss's Whimsy on a day to day basis..
Best of luck to you rings90!! I hope all goes well, or at least goes the way you want it to.
I say that because during a job interview long ago, it became apparent to me that I was merely a token interview and there was no way in hell I was getting the job. I decided to let it all hang out and say things I wouldn't normally say in an interview. Didn't get the job and didn't want it anyway!
For Dr. Suess day, I read this quote once: "Be who you are and say what you think, because the ones who matter don't mind and the ones who mind don't matter."
Good luck, Rings!
And Stoney, thank YOU for coming. I know you share my love of a winding story, which makes Max the perfect lunch companion, yes?
Found these new videos posted under Mr. Peterman's Eyedentity, with a little help from a friend. I'm sure you'll all enjoy as much as I did.
http://www.petermanseye.com/users/1681-j-peterman
Shandonista, love that quote. Hope you got my note to you yesterday. Very nice post.
Olivia and Cynthia: you both rock!
MissIve: Ohmagosh! They are both cutie pies!!!!
We are celebrating THE big 100TH birthday tonight with a cake and ice cream. We will celebrate anything just to have cake. Lance is forever reading Dr. Seuss books. In fact, he can read between the lines and has to explain to MImi what is actually meant. He is constantly reminding me to use my "magination"! Love it! We will watch "Horton Hears a Who" tonight, sing happy birthday and chow down on that awesome chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream icing (that Mimi made last night). Lance wants to decorate the cake with green eggs and ham...haven't figured out how to accomplish this yet. I do have food coloring but what can I use for the ham and eggs? I don't know how to use fondant.any great bakers out there?
MissIve,
I did. Thanks. I have always liked Clint...for the explosions, the thrashing of bad dudes, the cool Westerns, and for scaring me silly during "Play Misty for Me." His growth (or opportunity) into becoming a director and cinematic wise man gives me hope that perhaps one day, I could do the same in some field or another. On the other hand, like Doc, I agree that we spend a bit too much energy on Hollywood watching. Folks on the Eye seem to have a good balance, I think.
rings- i am doing a cheer for you and by the way luck has nothing to do with it! I have said it before...someone will recognize your unique talent and snatch you up when you least expect it! Goooooooo Rings! Kiiiiiiiiiiick Butt!
MackDaddy ~ I love how you all celebrate anything just to have cake.
Can you just draw with frosting on the cake & use yellow M&M's for the Eggs centers or maybe even make eggs & ham out of M&M's on the cake? If I come up with anything else I will let you know.
Shandonista ~ I LOVE that you did that. Last time I was out of work I had an interview for a job that I was NOT interested in taking for many reasons the way the place was run + the owner manager realized that my neighbors of 20 yrs were friends of hers also & called them for a reference..(I didn't have them listed) She called the next day to offer me the job & i turned it down saying it didn't sound like the right thing for me ~ She then recalled these people & asked them to talk me into taking it.... It's amazing what some people on both sides the looking side & the hiring sides sometimes....
Thansk MackDaddy, Stoney, MissIve & everyone else ~ Am hoping that the Stars Align...
Erika-SUPER good luck to ya!! I hope you get what you want, and what you need!
Great posts, all. Did somebody say CAKE?
Not only did Dr. Seuss make reading fun for children, but he made it so much fun for adults to read with children. Isn't that really the key? To convince children how great reading is we need to show them that we like doing it ourselves and that we are excited about doing it with them.
We loved his books so much when we were young, and cherished the time that the adults in our lives took out of their busy schedules to read them to us, that we couldn't wait to share them with the next generation of kids.
Laughing together over rhymes and nonsense, getting tongue-tied over tongue-twisters, being swept up by wild imagination and silly pictures...oh, the places you'll go and the thinks you can think!! I enjoyed his books as much, if not more, than any child. To this day I still quote them, remember them, and read them when I can. It may only be a little nonsense but all of us need some of that in our lives.
My favorite is "Thidwick, The Big-Hearted Moose"...
"Up at Lake Winna-Bango...the far northern shore...
Lives a huge herd of moose, about sixty or more,
And they all go around in a big happy bunch
Looking for nice tender moose-moss to munch."
Oh how I wish I could vote for all the choices in today's poll...as my stuffed Mrs. Tiggy-winkle sits here next to me, on my desk, watching me as I type and I begin to realize I must now be going because, like the White Rabbit, "I'm late, I'm late..."
rings90 - Best of luck...and, as Christopher Robin said to Winnie-the-Pooh, - "Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."
Realizing no one even mentioned Seuss's birthday today. What a bunch I work with, pathetic. But it is also my artist daughters 21st birthday, so happy to Marge and Ted.
So one of my daughter favorite bands, Moxie Fruvous, a canadian rock and sometimes a capella group.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMQMmp4JubY
Not quite true to the book but close and fun (and thats not the band). Oh the places we'll go. We can only speculate what Ted Geisel's influence has been. Perhaps we would have faced nuclear war years ago if the Star Belly Sneeches hadnt had those stars removed.
Good luck, rings.... Oh, as an old sales guy, don't worry about whether any specific interview results in a job... You do your best, and let the law of large numbers take care of you (it always does!) As in everything, the race doesn't go to the swiftest, but to the SOB that runs the longest...
M.I.,
Speaking of winding stories: When Guest and his boss, both pretty drunk, sat on the couch with their feet on the trunk, grading huge piles of compositions, there was a Marx Brothers quality about it.
They finished at the same time, turned their heads to look at each other without comment or expression. Guest would sit for a moment with his hands on the papers in his lap, sighing a little.
Silas clutched them to his chest and then, like an old German wind-up toy, they would simultaneously place them on the finished pile. I wanted to laugh, but didn't.
The thing about evaluating writing is that sometimes when it really stinks, an amazing story is missed. Such was the case with one of the several pieces that they left behind.
Interestingly, I am able to tell you what its writer looked like. She was thoughtful enough to include her image at the top of each page (a first for me) and it was a scary punked up Goth appearance to be sure.
The problem with her writing was not that it was bad and incomprehensible, it was terrible and just comprehensible. The kind of thing that could lead a tired English teacher to just launch it in a way that it would wind up behind the couch which is, evidently, exactly what happened.
The first two and one half of three pages were just filled with what Guest enjoys calling feckless drivel that made no sense at all. The last three paragraphs were something altogether different:
She told how she bought, "for cheap," an Ithaca 12 ga. Model 37 Featherlight pump shotgun. How she trained shooting it at bags of grain in an abandoned barn. How she went to her father's bedroom with an eye to using it to separate him from his suspended bits but found him in a face down fetal position dead in the corner.
Her big problem arose in explaining to the authorities why, when they had called to check on a 911 call from that number, she had said that everything was okay.
"I thought that it was," she said.
That was a story, but they hadn't got to the good stuff.
I had Green Eggs and Ham memorized, along with most of Hop on Pop, which I used to teach my kids to read at about age 3. They were eager! I knew Goodnight Moon and Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown, and The Tales of Mr. Jeremy Fisher and Mrs. Tittlemouse all by heart. This was to prove very useful on long car trips, as I could recite to them and they would instantly drop off to sleep in their car seats, having been subversively conditioned at home mwa ah ah...they loved it when I gave the characters silly accents too. I had easily as much fun reading to my kids as they did listening. I was disappointed when they became older, and it was no longer cool to get excited about Max and his wolf suit, or the Night Kitchen, or the dangerous Mr. McGregor. I sang them a wee song each night, too. Usually an auld Irish air. When we went home, my kids knew more Irish tunes than the ones in Dundalk. A marvel...there was The Auld Triangle, Colcannon, The Night Before Larry Was Stretched, Paddle Your Own Canoe, Finnegan's Wake, and many many others. Very little beats a night when a wee 8-year-old girleen takes the floor and sings this tune in a growly high lilt, as she learnt it from the auld lad:
Tim Finnegan lived in Watling Street, he was gentleman Irish, though mighty odd.
He'd a beautiful brogue, so rich and sweet, and to rise in the world he carried a hod.
Now Tim had a sort of a tippler's way, with a love of the liquor he was born.
And to help him along with his work each day he'd a drop of the creatur every morn.
One morning Tim was rather full, his head was heavy and it made him shake.
He fell off the ladder and smashed his skull, so they carried him home, his corpse to wake.
They rowled him up in a nice clean sheet, and laid him out upon the bed.
They put a pair of candles at his feet and a bottle of whiskey at his head.
Whack for the dido, dance to your partner
Round the floor your trotters shake,
Wasn't it the truth I told you, lots o' fun at Finnegan's wake!
His friends assembled at the wake, Missus Finnegan called out for the lunch.
First they brought in tea and cake, then pipes, tobacco and whiskey punch.
Then Biddy O' Brien began the cry, "Ach, such a neat clean corpse did you ever did see?
Tim, mavourneen why did you die?" "Ah, shut yer mouth!" said Biddy McGee.
Then Maggie O'Connor took up the job, "Ach Biddy," she says, "You're wrong, I'm sure."
Biddy gave her such a belt in the gob, it left her sprawling on the floor!
Then the war did soon engage, it was woman to woman and man to man.
Shillelagh law was all the rage and a row and a ruction soon began.
Whack for the dido, dance to your partner
Round the floor your trotters shake,
Wasn't it the truth I told you, lots o' fun at Finnegan's wake!
Then Mickey Maloney, he ducked his head when a naggin of whiskey flew at him.
It missed, and falling on the bed, the liquor saturated Tim.
Then Tim revives, see how he rises! And Timothy, rising from the bed, cried
"Whirl your whiskey around like blazes, by the thundering Jaysus did ye think I'm dead?"
Whack for the dido, dance to your partner
Round the floor your trotters shake,
Wasn't it the truth I told you, lots o' fun at Finnegan's wake!
My wee lassie would generally bring down the house...
"Goodnight, room. Goodnight, Moon. Goodnight cow jumping over the moon. Goodnight light,...."and to all of you at this site...
"Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one." ~Dr. Seuss
Don't forget Yurtle the Turtle. That was MY favorite when my kids were little. They loved Cat in the Hat. Was there one about Star Bellies? It's been a while. Something pleasant to think about.
Greetings: My personal favorite is AA Milne, and the books of Winnie The Pooh. Personally I have been told that I'm much like Eeyore. He is an unbelievably loveable character who is dismally gloomy for almost eternity. But that's not Eeyore's perception of himself, according to him; he doesn't expect too much of himself and therefore remains quiet for most of the time. That in no ways means he isn't an intelligent animal, he is actually quite knowledgeable yet he confines his knowledge to himself. This is the reason why he is very quiet most of the time and a bit depressed. Me, I'm not so sure. Anyway, "thanks for noticing me".