i am khayyam: It was Dr. Seuss who had a birthday today. Yes it was!

I am Khayyam and do not eat green eggs and ham, Khayyam I am ;) As you can tell Dr. Seuss has a special place in my heart and was re-introduced to him a few years back by someone who has an even bigger and more special place in my heart. So you see, this man and his works move me deeply and would like to take a moment to celebrate this man, this literary doctor...

DR. SEUSS: Theodor Seuss Geisel

Dr. Seuss was born March 2nd, 1904 and left us September 24th, 1991.

Dr. Seuss grew up Springfield, Massachusetts to Henrietta Seuss and Theodor Robert Geisel. His father operated a brewery and later went on become head keeper at the zoo. As a young doctor in training, this was Theodor's most treasured and favorite places. He "used to play with the baby lions and the antelope." Because of this his relationship with his father was very close.

Dr. Seuss goes to school at Darmouth, where Giesal joined the Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern, eventually rising to the rank of editor-in-chief.^[1] While at Dartmouth, Geisel was caught throwing a drinking party, violating national Prohibition law s of the time.^{[citation needed]} As a result, the school insisted that he resign from all extracurricular activities. In order to continue his work on the Jack-O-Lantern without the administration's knowledge, Geisel began signing his work with the pen name "Seuss".

From Seuss to Dr. Seuss came after he married a woman he met while attending Oxford intending to earn his Doctorate in Philosophy. He returned in 1927 to the United States, sans degree. The "Dr." in his pen name is an acknowledgment of his father's unfulfilled hopes that Geisel would earn a doctorate at Oxford.^{[citation needed]}"Seuss" was not only his middle name but it was his mother's maiden name. Another pseudonym he used was "Theodor LeSieg" which was cleverly just his last name Geisel spelled backwards ;)

Dr. Seuss becomes an author and began submitting humorous articles and illustrations to Judge after working as a writer of ads for magazines and , The Saturday Evening Post, Life, Vanity Fair, and Liberty. The company he worked for wouldn't let him write for adults, but he could write for kids. So that is what he did.

His first book came in 1937, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street. He had great difficulties in finding a publisher that was interested in his works. He was determined and continued until the lucky number rang out, lucky number 30!! Can you imagine those other 29 publishers kicking themselves when Dr. Seuss was a first class success?! Priceless ;)

The stylings of Dr. Seuss in both illustrations and rhyme were brilliant. The illustration were heavy, simple black drawings with strong and limited colorings while the words flowed with a pattered delivery, similarly after he has said something that you would interpret differently ;) The idea of his first book came to him while on a boat from Oxford back to the United States and having to listen to the clink clank boom of the engine room.

Dr. Seuss makes a list and checks it three times. You see, in 1954, Life magazine published a report on literacy in the early and elementry years in the education system. The results determined that children were bored with what they were reading and were starved for some kind of inspiration. And with this report funneled down and inspired Dr. Seuss to take a list of words used in early readers. Of the original 348 words he shortened it down to 250 and was challenged by his publisher to write a book using only these words. Close to a year later Dr. Seuss used 236 words to produce his magnum opus, The Cat in the Hat.

Everyone just loved this book, I just loved this book! This colorful cat with a striped hat invoked all kinds of creative thoughts in tandem with the wonderful patterned words sent kids into just loving this and parent the same. Have you ever read it? It's absolutely a lovely experience and you see a lovely little nuance in language use with hidden and double meanings. It's a wonderful mystery to read and re-read these classics.

Dr. Seuss published over 60 children's books, which were often characterized by imaginative characters, rhyme, and frequent use of trisyllabic meter. Combined there are more that 220 million copies of his works around the world. Among them are The Cat in the Hat, (1957)

Green Eggs and Ham (1960) and his last book in this lifetime, Oh, the Places You'll Go! (1990)

Dr. Seuss changed the world single handedly to create a lovely rhyme filled learning experience to millions of children, generation after generation sealed with timelessness.

As I was researching this and combing my google search for images for this post, I came across one of the most profound quotations: