One of my favorite people is having a birthday this week and we at the Milwaukee Public Library are celebrating in style. 

This week we remember the lovable Dr. Seuss, born Theodore Geisel on March 2, 1904, by honoring his life and his work.  Dr. Seuss is an institution in children’s literature, with parents remembering him from their own childhood and often enjoying crossing the generational divide by sharing the timeless good Doctor with their own children.  There is something comforting and familiar about Seuss’ characters and the whimsy of his work.  A fun fact about Dr. Seuss is that he wrote The Cat in the Hat as a challenge to what he thought were the tedious easy readers of his time.  If you read The Cat in the Hat closely, you’ll discover that it contains nearly all of the “high frequency” words that children encounter when they are first learning to read.  Pretty impressive!  I say read it for fun and don’t worry about the word count.    

I thought I had moved on from Dr. Seuss with my children being older now, but it seems I can’t escape him.  Last year their school staged “Seussical” as their spring musical.  It was uplifting to be reacquainted with Horton and Gertrude McFuzz.  This year, one of my sons is taking a class titled “Dr. Seuss and WWII”—all about Seuss’ works that are allegories for bigger issues. I’m learning so much!  Selfishly, I’m delighted that I still get an occasional dose of Seuss.   

Join us at the Milwaukee Public Library on Saturday, March 7 at Central Library from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. when we celebrate Seuss and reading and childhood!  If you can’t join us, why not build an enthusiasm for reading by staging your own “Read Across America” event?  Why not have a “Read Across our Block Day” or even on a smaller scale—“Our Family Reads Day”.  If Seuss isn’t your thing, go ahead and read something else!  I’m sure Dr. Seuss wouldn’t mind.  What a wonderful excuse to celebrate reading and one of the “good guys” who inspired so many.    

For more information about the Milwaukee Public Library’s Dr. Seuss celebrations at Central and all 12 neighborhood libraries, visit: www.mpl.org