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Dr Seuss, happy birthday! Let's say it once more
Guardian ^ | Wednesday 2 March 2011 19.05 GMT | Lindesay Irvine

Posted on 03/02/2011 5:03:51 PM PST by Pan_Yan

One-hundred-and-fourth birthdays aren't usually much celebrated for authors who aren't alive anymore. But it seems an appropriately eccentric occasion to mark for the frankly fantabulous Theodor Seuss Geisel – rather better known as Dr Seuss – who came into the world on 2 March, 1904.

Like generations of children I was weaned on his spry, jazzy tales, and now – when Uncle Lindesay steps up to put the kids to sleep with one of his famously thrilling bedtime stories – it's not just a nostalgic kick I'm getting out of the experience. They're still brilliant pieces of writing: as well as the mad imagination, the language turns over with a poise as sure as the lyrics of Cole Porter, and the reader rides his characteristic anapestic metric schemes with effortless glee. It still weaves a spell on the younglings, and many have understandably imitated it, but very few can make it swing like the Doctor:

"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.

"And will you succeed? Yes indeed, yes indeed! Ninety-eight and three-quarters percent guaranteed."

(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Books/Literature; Poetry
KEYWORDS: drseuss

1 posted on 03/02/2011 5:03:52 PM PST by Pan_Yan
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To: Pan_Yan

Yes, I noticed that the author can’t do math. He would have been 107 today.


2 posted on 03/02/2011 5:05:24 PM PST by Pan_Yan
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To: Pan_Yan

A Plethora of Cats, one of many "Secret Art" pieces Dr. Seuss created when he wasn't writing children's books.
3 posted on 03/02/2011 5:09:15 PM PST by Pan_Yan
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To: Pan_Yan

Dr. Seuss was one of the few lefties that advocated the US oppose Nazi Germany, BEFORE Hitler invaded the Soviet Union.


4 posted on 03/02/2011 5:12:09 PM PST by dfwgator
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To: dfwgator

True. He was a liberal Democrat of the old school. Maybe you don’t agree with all of his views, but he would look like a raging conservative compared to today’s Democrats.


5 posted on 03/02/2011 5:21:53 PM PST by Strk321
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To: Pan_Yan
I first became aware of The Cat in the Hat in 1959, when I was seven, and the book was a couple of years old. I was past the target age for the readers of that book by then, but I found Seuss's drawings creepy and disturbing in a way that I couldn't understand. For some reason, they reminded me of that old comic strip Smoky Stover, which had the same effect on me.

As I got a little older, I came across the earlier, pre-Cat Seuss books (like Mulberry Street and the Horton books), and liked them better, but the drawing style still bugged me, and continues to. But I've got to admit to a soft spot for the Grinch.

6 posted on 03/02/2011 5:25:35 PM PST by Dunstan McShane
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To: Pan_Yan
Geisel was given a list of 'sight words' with which he was to create a story. Cat in a Hat was the result and the birth of modern day 'sight and say' (whole language) began. Now we have a nation of functional illiterates. THANK YOU DR SUESS !!

The old Dick and Jane series started this slide into ignorance.

Phonics work because we see and HEAR language. The dumbing Down has been DELIBERATE. The object is CONTROL.

7 posted on 03/02/2011 5:33:43 PM PST by codder too
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To: Pan_Yan

I love DR. Seuss’ secret art! There is a gallery in Roswell that carries it. I have 2 pieces myself.


8 posted on 03/02/2011 6:47:52 PM PST by bk1000 (A clear conscience is a sure sign of a poor memory)
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To: Pan_Yan

Regardless of politics, IMHO Dr. Seuss was the best children’s author EVER - bar none. No one even in the same league. Kind of like Sean “the flying tomato” White in the arena of snowboarding.


9 posted on 03/02/2011 10:49:54 PM PST by MCH
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To: bk1000

Thanks for the info. I’ll have to check that out.


10 posted on 03/03/2011 5:23:39 AM PST by Pan_Yan
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