Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss

We got back not too long ago, from the library. They had a celebration for Dr. Seuss' birthday. It was just some stories, singing a few songs (including Happy Birthday and The Hokey Pokey) and a craft project (paper Cat-in-the-Hat). They had some pre-packaged rice crispy treats and juice boxes. They also gave each child a free book (Anders got The Magic Tree House #4, which we hadn't been able to find at the library, ironically).

I'm a Dr. Seuss (Theodore Geisel, if you will) fan. He writes with the oh-so-catchy trisyllabic meter rhyme, comes up with wonderful words (he coined the word "nerd"--although it was a creature in a zoo back then) and has imaginative illustrations. He taught us some great lessons (possibly influenced by his Lutheran background?):

• a person's a person, no matter how small (Horton Hears a Who)
• all turtles should be free (Yertle the Turtle)
• stewardship of our resources (The Lorax)
• discrimination is bad (The Sneetches)
• things aren't necessary to make us happy (How the Grinch Stole Christmas)

So I join the celebration of Dr. Seuss' life as he has enriched our culture deeply and provided me and my family with countless hours of reading pleasure.