Today

[sartorias]

First, meme from mamculuna: take a selfie right now, the way you are, and post it. I was so happy to put a face to a name, I thought, okay, I'll do that, frowzy hair, ice cream splashed t-shirt, and all.

Comments

[melita66]

I haven't read many Seuss books to my 2 boys (4.5 now) although we have a bunch. When I first tried, probably when they were two, the books were too long to hold their attention. Probably the reader's fault.

They'd seen some Grinchy stuff this Christmas and were asking about it. One was anxious about Christmas being taken away, 'he looks scary', and 'how does he do it'. So I had them watch it last night. A few questions but no more anxiety that I could see.

I had some as a kid but none stuck. On the other hand, when I was reading them a Scarry book...I said, hey, I remember that worm in the funny hat!

A favorite author/artist of us all now is Mo Willems (suggested by kate_nepveu). Oh, and Captain Underpants.

[sartorias]

Oh, yes. Richard Scarry was my daughter's favorite. She didn't care for the text, but she would peer intently at the pages of drawings of busy little animals doing interesting things, and talk endlessly about them. Captain Underpants was a solid fave with my boy.

[ann1962]

I don't remember when I first read Suess, but I do remember feeling odd that the kids let a stranger in the house. When I read it to kids now, I feel obligated to give them a reminder that one should never let strangers in the house, especially since most of the kids I read to are often left alone while their parents work.

You are beautiful!

[sartorias]

Oh yes about the stranger. Good point!

Lol! That's a very kind thought.

[klwilliams]

We didn't have Dr. Seuss around the house, but we had Beatrix Potter, and not the common ones. Mom stopped letting us read "The Roly-Poly Pudding" because it gave us nightmares. (It wasn't until I was an adult when I figured out why the kittens weren't being turned into an actual pudding, just dessert.) One I particularly liked was "The Tailor Gloucester", though I really don't think that was a children's book, even with helpful mice. I still have the handful of books by her that I had as a child. Maybe it's time for a reread.

We also had Little Golden Books, but those weren't terribly interesting.

[sartorias]

Yeah, I'm not sure Beatrix Potter was entirely for kids. I remember we taught them at my school (which only taught classics for literature) and I thought at times, hmmm, I'm really glad this is going way over the kids' heads.

[ethelmay]

It always blows my mind to realize that Beatrix Potter lived long enough to see Seuss's And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, which she liked very much.

[sartorias]

Yes! I think of them as two distinct time periods, almost two distinct centuries.

[nineweaving]

Happy birthday to your mother!

It's lovely to see you, though that's a very stern, formal mid-Victorian pose.

I loved Bartholomew Cubbins and his Fibonacci series of hats. I thought the Cat in the Hat unpleasant-a flimflam intruder and a breeder of anarchy. Later, reading to children, I sympathized with Horton, left hatching his Who.

Nine

[sartorias]

Agents of chaos are not fun!

The pose was me trying to see the buttons on the blasted phone through the lower level of my glasses, which is for close reading.

[klwilliams]

I should also note that I don't give Dr. Seuss books to the children in my life. I prefer the Sandra Boynton books, which I have read aloud to the point of memorization. They're silly, and have silly animal characters, so no worries about kids.