Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

"Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting....So, Get on your way! Dr. Seuss

Every year, schools all across America celebrate March 2nd, Dr. Seuss' birthday, by participating in a national reading event called Read Across America. This is the perfect day to introduce life-long reading to your children. What child doesn't love Dr. Seuss? How can anyone pass up Green Eggs and Ham,  or The Cat in the Hat ? As a child, I always looked forward to Dr. Seuss specials on television. These short, clever cartoons made his books come alive for me. I remember reading Hop On Top of Pop, and wishing there was a cartoon made about that book, too. And, I always wished my mom would, just once, make green eggs and ham.

So, to get your kids to enjoy reading, here are some ideas for using Dr. Seuss books with children of all ages:

          1. Read the cat in the hat to your child. I read this to a group of seventh graders today, and they had a blast finishing the sentences and rhymes. This book lends itself to discuss how to handle someone who asks your child to do something that they know their parents would disapprove of, and if they should be honest enough to tell their parents the truth about what they did.

          2. Since many of Dr. Seuss' books deal with social issues, read one of his books with your middle schooler or high schooler, and use this book as a way to discuss social issues that may be part of an underlying theme in the book you read.

          3. Talk to your child about their favorite scene from their favorite book. Ask them why they chose this particular book as their favorite, and how the scene they described, from the book, influenced them.

          4. Start a reading "club" with your children. This works especially well if your children are close in age. Read a book as a family, and then discuss the questions or parts of the plot that were especially interesting or appealing to them.

          5. If you have small children, ask them to draw a scene from their favorite book. Once they are done, ask them to tell you why this book and this scene are their favorite.
  

If starting a discussion with your child is sometimes difficult, sometimes using the story line in a book is an easy way to get the conversation flowing. A few months ago, at a small coffee shop in Springfield, I over heard an amazing conversation between a grandmother and two grandchildren. It was obvious that conversations regarding recently read books was not a novelty for this family. I over heard the grandmother ask her grandkids what genre of books they had recently read. At this point, the granddaughter replied that she had been reading a scientific fantasy about time travel. The grandmother asked her granddaughter why she chose this particular book, and the granddaughter replied that she loved science, and that this particular book was of interest to her because of how realistic and probable the idea of time travel was. Now mind you, this granddaughter was all of ten years old. I was amazed at the quality of conversation that these three people were having. As I was leaving, I heard the grandmother ask her grandkids what books they would recommend  that she read. By now I could not stand it any longer, I had to stop by their table to tell them how amazing it was for me to hear such an amazing conversation about reading!

Today is your day to get on your way of starting this invaluable habit with your children. You will be amazed at the results.

So, Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss. Thank you for sparking an interest in reading for so many children across America!