Dr. Seuss May Mean More To Parents

My son, Colter, who is in second grade, wanted to bring a blanket to school Tuesday.

Given that he no longer naps, I was unwilling to send his purple dinosaur one without an explanation. He persuaded me with this: His class was celebrating what would have been Dr. Seuss' 100th birthday and the kids were going to be on the floor, reading and listening to books all day.

Ah, Dr. Seuss.

He's often praised for inspiring kids to read, but I think it is parents -- not children -- who are responsible for his success.

It is the moms and dads who borrow books from the library, buy them at bookstores and read them at bedtime. It is the moms and dads to whom Theodor Geisel (Seuss was his mother's maiden name) owed the greatest debt, right from the start.

His work began with educational goals. He used a combination of sight words and words kids could sound out, all provided by his publisher, which helped children learn to read phonetically (taught as phonics now). And he helped move the habit of reading from the classroom -- and teacher's domain -- into the home, by offering a primer more entertaining than "Dick and Jane."

Parents quickly discovered his singsong rhymes are meditative, a form of verbal yoga for tired souls, young and old. They are much easier and more relaxing to read than most children's books, especially after a long day at school or work. And the repetition could make some phrases a mother's mantra, sticky like those songs you can't get out of your head.

My husband would disagree. "The Cat in the Hat" was published the year Gary was born (1957), and a few years later "Green Eggs and Ham" was released. It was the first book my husband read. And the last one (he found Dr. Seuss' language tangles his tongue), until he was a teenager and picked up "The Hobbit." He's still not much of a reader.

The first Dr. Seuss book I remember is "My Book About Me." I counted the number of teeth I had and explored my own home to fill in the blanks the book provides. Dr. Seuss helped me write my first autobiography. (I also credit him with being first to use the word "blog," -- which is how I write my autobiography these days.)

"My Book About Me" is one of the bunch of books my son brought to school for this celebration.

Before he was born, we bought a set of 12 Dr. Seuss books. We read them to him often when he was a baby and then a little boy. But when he pulled out books to browse -- and later to read himself -- he always preferred books about trains, dinosaurs and heroes.

I don't think my son ever found himself in the pages of Dr. Seuss' books. And now that I think about it, other than the "Cat in the Hat," "Sam I Am," and perhaps"The Lorax," the books are primarily driven by the language, not by the characters. That may be one reason my son preferred that I perform them.

It may also be why I have so many happy memories associated with Dr. Seuss. The language stayed with me, even if the lessons (were there any?) never did.

My favorite Dr. Seuss book line is "And to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street." When I read it as a child, I lived in a quiet suburban neighborhood where nothing ever happened. And this book showed me something could -- at any moment, with no warning.

Maybe that is Dr. Seuss' legacy. Not that he introduced us to reading or to phonics, but that he can still introduce us to our own imaginations and encourage us to use them, if only as we were nodding off, into our dreams.

Julie Moos is a thirtysomething who lives with her husband and son. Her column appears every other Thursday. To read more of her thoughts, visit MomInTheMirror.com.