Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

Dr. Seuss was the very man who inflicted great torture on me as a young child. Ok, so he didn't actually come to my house and torture me, it just felt like it. As a youngster learning to read I guess Green Eggs and Ham and The Cat In The Hat must have been the only two books in my house. Every night my Dad would sit with me and I would have to read one of these books. I was struggling with reading. I hated these books. I wanted to scream at Sam I Am, "just answer the damn question so this book can be over with" (Did I just swear?). I wanted to take that Cat and beat the living daylights out of him and tell him to, "GET OUT". I would slowly plug along trying to get through those books each night. I remember crying about it and yelling I hate reading.

I want all of you that are wondering if I am still an illiterate to know that reading finally clicked in my head and then I was off and never stopped reading but it was no thanks to Dr. Seuss. I think it was actually spelling tests. I was very competitive when it came to spelling tests in the 2nd grade and also I wanted to be in the top reading group.


I have forgiven Dr. Seuss. Although, those two books are still my least favorite. It was years before I bought any Dr. Seuss books for my own kids and I was a collector of children's books. Those did not make the cut as necessary reading in our home library. I do remember the first time that the kids heard those stories they liked them and I was silently annoyed that they didn't hate them.

I will give a shout out to the following Seuss books - Are You My Mother? (Loved it). My all time favorite, Go Dog Go. Loved the dogs and the cars, the huge bed with a zillion dogs sleeping in it, and the question, "do you like my hat?".
So Happy Birthday Dr Seuss and please people--do not torture your kids with these books if they are a struggling reader. It just ain't nice!

PS. Oh Look, after posting the pictures I see that the books I liked weren't even Dr. Seuss books. So, thank you PD Eastman for saving me.