Happy National Read Across America Day!

And because this nationwide reading celebration takes place annually on March 2 – Dr. Seuss’s birthday, I’d like to share a story about how his most famous book came to be!

For Young Readers and Fans of Dr. Seuss

Have you ever wondered how the great Dr. Seuss wrote his most famous book? Did you know that for The Cat in the Hat, he wasn’t allowed to make up the fun words he was known for–like oobleck and it-kutch and hippo-no-hungus? He was only allowed to use words from a very strict list!

A lively new picture-book biography of the most beloved children’s book author of all time:

Dr. Seuss!

Before reading this book, I had no idea ‘The Cat in the Hat’ was over 60 years old. I never once thought how old the book was. It always seemed like a timeless classic, and Dr. Seuss was some sort of immortal being.

With the story’s fun rhymes and easy dialogue, many people probably think this book was easy to write and took no time at all. You probably assumed the same thing Fudge Hatcher does in Judy Blume’s book, Superfudge:

“Dr. Seuss can write a book in an hour.”

But this book was not easy to write. Dr. Seuss needed to write a short story that was exciting enough to keep a child’s attention with simple beginning reader words, which meant no made-up hard-to-sound-out words.

After this book, I’ll never look at The Cat in the Hat the same way again.

Sidenote, has anyone heard of the Seussical the Musical?

The play’s overall plot is based on Horton Hears a Who!, while featuring other Dr. Seuss stories.

I had no idea this musical existed until a rendition of the play was performed at my middle school. An old friend of mine, Johnathan Murretta, played the role of Horton the Elephant. I love the music so much that I immediately hunted down and bought the CD.

This proves that Broadway can and will make a musical about anything. They even made a SpongeBob SquarePants musical.

This week’s Weird but True Fact about Dr. Seuss

The word “nerd” first appeared in 1950 in the Dr. Seuss book ‘If I Ran the Zoo.’