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“You’re never too old, too wacky, or too wild, to pick up a book and read to a child.”
Dr. Seuss
Just as we have our beloved children’s authors – Jan Brzechwa and Julian Tuwim – America has its wonderful and amusing writer named Dr. Seuss. His imaginative and humorous books, charmingly and uniquely illustrated, gracefully encourage children to read and make reading an extremely simple activity. His book characters include the mischievous Cat in the Hat, a troublemaker dressed in a tall white and red hat; the Grinch, who wanted to steal Christmas from the world; and the funny elephant Horton.
Every year, in early March, on the author’s birthday, all of America participates in the “America Reads to Children!” campaign. On this day, schools across the country dedicate time to reading books by specially invited guests: parents, librarians, famous actors, or city mayors. Even the First Lady of the United States and the Secretary of Education meet on this day at the Library of Congress with Washington’s youngest residents to read something pleasant to them.
Who is Dr. Seuss?
He was born in 1904 to a family of German immigrants in Springfield. As he recalled, he had a happy childhood enriched by his mother’s lullabies and rhymes. It was this author’s mother, Henrietta Seuss Geisel, who instilled in him the skill and need for rhyming and creating his own rhyming stories. Even during his studies, Theodor was involved in publishing a humorous magazine, and not long after, he also started drawing comics. For over 15 years, he worked as a creator of advertising campaigns for oil companies.
And suddenly, he received an offer to illustrate a children’s book. And although the book did not achieve significant success, his illustrations were noticed and appreciated. Encouraged and emboldened by this small success, he wrote and illustrated his first children’s book titled And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street (“And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street”). As is often the case at the beginning of the careers of great and beloved authors, Dr. Seuss had to “break through a wall” 27 times before he finally found a publisher willing to publish this work.
Significant success, however, came quite by chance only a little later. A publishing agency asked him to write a book for children taking their first steps in reading, a book that would contain only 225 words considered basic for a beginner reader. And so, the great, timeless bestseller The Cat in the Hat (“The Cat in the Hat”) was created. And after it, others followed…
Dr. Seuss died in 1991 as a recognized and beloved author of children’s literature. He wrote 44 books for the youngest readers, the most popular of which are Green Eggs and Ham (“Green Eggs and Ham”), the already mentioned The Cat in the Hat, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
All of America reads to children on March 2, on the anniversary of their favorite author’s birthday. Let’s not forget, however, that besides March 2, there are still 364 days in the year that could also be spent with a favorite book in hand.
Happy reading!
Iwona Sikorska – Szczupak
