Conference moira::parenting_v3

    
    
    What?
    
    -sandy
    

I loved "Horton the Elephant".  I wish I had had them in French for my children.
We enjoyed the English but playing with words in your own language in the very
special way that he could can't be beat.

Another very special goodbye... one hundred percent!

ccb

    Dr. Seuss died yesterday at the age of 87 (?).

    Do you know if his real name was Geisel or LeSieg?  He writes under
    both (reverse the spelling...).  Just always been curious.  My favorite
    is Horton Hears a Who or maybe The Lorax.  How sad...
    

    Wasn't Seuss his middle name?
    
    

re: .6

According to this morning's Boston Globe, his full name was

	Theodor (sic) Seuss Geisel

Clay

    Alex and I both cried when we heard the news (though of course 87 years
    is a fine long life).  "But *who's* going to do his *job*??" Alex keeps
    asking....  She understands that nobody could fill his shoes--I think
    of him as sort of a national nonsense laureate (kid version; Ogden Nash
    would have to take the adult version).  My favorite is _If_I_Ran_the_
    Zoo_, but of course any of them runs circles around Dick, Jane and
    Sally (Zzzzzzzz....)
    
    We and millions of his other "children" will keep his spirit alive and
    giggling, I'm sure.
    
    Leslie

    Re: .7
    
    No "sic" - his first name was indeed Theodor, and Seuss was his
    middle name.
    
    Geisel never had any kids of his own, and once quipped "You make 'em,
    I'll entertain 'em."  He says his greatest accomplishment was to
    help stamp out "Dick and Jane".
    
    Farewell, old friend.  I read your books as a child and then read
    them to my own son, who now reads them himself.
    
    					Steve

    He helped me to get totally wrapped up in reading-- before the first grade.
    Thinking about it, I have to credit my love of reading with the
    fabulous books that I had by Dr. Seuss, 28 years ago.  I read them
    all... over and over and over.  
    
    	I will not eat them with a mouse.  I will not eat them in a house.
    	I will not eat them here or there.  I will not eat them anywhere.    
        I do not like green eggs and ham.  I do not like them, Sam-I-Am.
    
    The order might be off a bit... since the last time I read this book
    was some 19 years ago to my little sister.
    

    Dr. Seuss gone...I do not like this, Sam-I-Am!
    
    Charles Osgood had a wonderful commentary about Dr. Seuss on
    the CBS Morning News (the real show, not "CBS This Morning").
    In part, he said:
    
    "Rhymes that were much more than clever,
    Dr. Seuss will live forever."
    
    I am going to write to CBS and see if I can get a copy of this
    tribute.  If I can, I'll post it here.  It was truly wonderful.
    
    Dr. Seuss gone...I do not like this, Sam-I-Am...

    
    i was in the store yesterday and saw the book "Horton Hatches an Egg"
    Is this the same book other replies have referred to as "Horton Hears
    a Who" or a different one?  We have a bunch of Dr. Suess books, but not
    Horton, I'd like to get it.
    
    elizabeth
    

    This is a different Horton book.  (Yesterday's Nashua Telegraph had a
    chronological list of all the Dr. Seuss books).  Horton Hatches an Egg
    is how lazy Mazie bird didn't want to sit on her egg, she flew off to
    Florida and didn't come back, and Horton promised to sit on her egg,
    and he sat and he sat because an elephant's faithful 100%...  And when
    the egg hatched it looked like a bird-elephant!!
    

I happen to like Horton Hatches the Egg much better than the more well known
Horton Hears a Who.

			Steve

    I guess I will always be a Cat in the Hat fan. When Alan and I
    met, among other things, it made an impression on him that I had
    a copy of the book; it wasn't from childhood; I had bought when I was 17! 
    A few months ago the Book-of-the-Month club had a "Six by Seuss"
    collection on sale -- we bought it, and boy, was Alan a happy man
    the day it arrived. 
    
    I can't wait to hear him read it too our children....
    
    Monica
    
    
    

Well, my favorite is "The Grinch that Stole Christmas", which IMO is destined 
to become, if it isn't already, a Christmas classic in the sense of "The Night 
Before Christmas", and "A Christmas Carol".  It introduced the term "Grinch" 
into our language, though it is often misused; the Grinch, after all, 
eventually saw the light.  But, like "scrooge", the term "grinch" typically 
refers to a pattern of conduct from the "pre-reformed" character. 

That Dr. Seuss books have survived so long, through many generations of
children, and through many learning theories is amazing.  The reason, I
think, is that the Dr. Seuss books appeal to kids, but not necessarily
adults.  A typical Dr. Seuss book is dogeared and has dirty, torn pages.
Oftentimes, the beautifully illustrated Caldecott award winner (for
illustrations of childrens' books) remains in mint condition, ready to be
handed down to the next generation.  I think that the latter reflects that it 
is adults that buy childrens books, but the former reflects that it is the 
kids who read them.

We'll miss him.

Clay    

    Did anybody catch last season's final episode of Murphy Brown? I just
    caught the re-run last week.  Murphy announced her pregnancy, and was
    told she'd have to start learning new things, like reading The Cat In
    The Hat. Her reaction was hilarious, having never heard of TCITH.
    Funny, that program was the first thing that came to mind when I heard
    the news.  My personal favorite is Hop On Pop.  I still have my
    original, and bought my son his own copy (NEVER let him touch mine
    until he learns not to rip the pages).  He loves it, too! 

    Not to be a poop or anything, but the correct title is "How The Grinch
    Stole Christmas" not "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas".
    
    Anyway, does anyone remember the Dr. Suess book "Are You My Mother?". 
    That one definately has to be one of my favorites.  I know there's a
    copy of it hiding somewhere within the basement of my mom's house, just
    gotta dig through a whole lot of junk that's piled up through the years
    to get to it.
    
    Lori B.

    Actually, "Are You My Mother?" was written by P.D. Eastman, not
    Dr. Seuss.  This is one of James' favorite books.  He can "read"
    a lot of it.  It's a wonderful book and should still be available
    in bookstores.  
    
    In case you're not familiar, the book tells the story of a baby
    bird who hatches out of the egg while his mother is off getting
    food, and since he doesn't see his mother around, he goes off to
    find her.  He meets up with a cat, a dog, a cow, a car, a train,
    a boat, and a "Snort" (actually a steam shovel).  As you might
    expect, all ends happily.  It is a sweet story and the pictures
    are really funny.

Re: .19, .20

I imagine the confusion stems from the P.D. Eastman books being published
under an "I Can Read" line which uses the Cat in the Hat as its logo, as
well as the similarity in styles.  Eastman also wrote "Go, Dogs, Go!" which
was a favorite of my son.

I've found many occasions to use the morals Seuss put in his stories as
aids to explaining things to Tom.  The "Yertle the Turtle" book contains
several very pointed tales, and we both enjoyed the rather long "I Had 
Trouble Getting to Solla Sollew" (or something like that.)  I consider
Seuss' approach to be a breath of fresh air when contrasted to the
heavy-fisted methods used in most of today's stories aimed at kids,
especially those which set out to teach kids "a lesson".

				Steve

    I've got one of those "how come" questions....
    
    Over the weekend I was in three different general department (not
    bookstores) and noticed the sections that used to be chocked full of
    Dr Seuss books, were now just about empty.  I wonder if everyone is
    buying his books bigtime in his memory, or are they afraid they won't
    be around anymore, or will the prices skyrocket.  I haven't a clue, but
    I can be counted among those who wanted to buy some for AJ, haven't
    done it as yet, and feel now would be a nice time.  Quite literally I
    found three copies of ABC's at Kmart in Webster, that's all!  They have
    always had rows full of his books!
    
    By the way, of his books which ones would you recommend to start with. 
    He has seen Grinch that stole Christmas, the TV special version and
    just loved it!
    
    Lyn
    

Re: .22

Lyn, I'd recommend starting with The Cat in the Hat, and The Cat in the Hat
Comes Back (which is actually more fun than the original.)  Green Eggs and
Ham is also great for the younger set.  These all have simple words and
rhythms, plus a lot of repetition.

				Steve

    re: .20
    
    Thanks for clarifying that, I always thought it was Dr. Seuss.  I guess
    you learn something new every day! :-)
    
    Lori B.

    re: .22
    
    I always liked "Hop on Pop" and "One fish Two fish" for young
    kids.  Each item is only a page or two long, and they aren't
    connected, so you can stop whenever the kid gets bored. 
    
    --bonnie

Although I loved the Cat in the Hat as a child, I have some reservations
about it as an adult.  The cat comes into the children's house uninvited,
while the mother is out.  When I have asked my son (while reading the book) if
it is okay to let someone in the house that he doesn't know, while his
parents are out of the house, my son smiles and says yes.  He wants someone
fun to come in, someone like the cat in the hat.  

I've tried to point out how you can't believe what the cat says:  he says he
won't drop the fish, but does; he says the two things won't get into
trouble, but they do.  This, of course, takes away the affection that he
has for the cat.  I do bring up how the cat picks up after himself, but I
feel like this is a better book for an older child, not one of 3 years like 
mine.

I do really like "I Can Read with my Eyes Shut" and "Green Eggs and Ham",
though.

         Carol_the_spoil_sport  :-}

    Re: .-1  I agree with Carol's points, plus the last page has the mother
    coming home and asking the kids what they did that day.  I don't like
    the implication that they're going to lie about what they did.
    

     Well, it seems to me that what the kids very well may have done that day
was to be very well behaved, sit quietly at home and daydream -- about a cat
who wears a funny hat and does outrageous things.  It seems to me that kids
understand about "pretend".
     If I were really concerned about the "message", I think that I would
take special pains to talk about imagination, pretend, and "do you think this
really could happen"?  And you could actually  carry it a step farther --
that the story couldn't happen, because you -- the parent -- would never
leave your child at home alone anyway.  I find it hard to believe that any
child old enough to be left home alone for even a short time would understand
that the cat-in-the-the-hat is imaginary, and ain't gonna come to the door.
     I'd be more concerned about a book that had photos or realistic
illustrations than I would be about Seuss.  In fact one of the things that
I like (but admittedly haven't always) about Seuss is that most of the story
lines don't approximate reality at all, and the drawings are so crude that
they aren't easily mistaken for "real" stories.

Clay
     

The only time Evan would be left alone (at this age) would be if we were
both in the back yard, and he was in the house.  I sure wouldn't want him
letting someone in.

However, this chance is remote, that's true, and I *really* like your idea,
Clay, about this all being "pretend" (obvious when I think about it, but
not obvious to my son).  I think I will try telling him how it is all
the kids pretending, and see how that works.  :-}

        Carol

    
    The Sneetches is a great one too!!  Also, a Christmas present that
    Chris got from his aunt was Dr. Seuss'  "A Book About Me" - not a
    story, but a book where you measure and count and record things about 
    the child, the house, friends etc.  Kinda neat.  It took us a while to
    get his all filled in, but it was fun to do.
    
    Horton Hears a Who is about the Who's who live in Whoville, which I
    believe is really on a clover, and the Who's want to be heard, and they
    all try to yell and scream, but no one can hear them until the tiniest
    WHO in Whoville (who wouldn't make any noise), decides to try too, and
    then Horton hears them.
    
    At least that's how I think it goes ........  it's been a WHILE!
    
    The idea is, no matter how small you are/feel, you can always make a
    difference!
    
    Patty

    My favorite is "There's a wocket in my pocket".  I have had more fun
    reading that to my kids.  
    
    Lori, I loved "Are you  my Mother" too.  Both my kids do too.  My
    daughter was cute one time when we were driving past some construction
    and she saw a steam shovel she shouted "There's snort!"
    
    As one noted says, Dr. Seuss will live forever.
    

    we were lamenting about the price of the books,
    when lo & behold, we got a flyer yesterday for a Dr.Seuss & friends
    order by mail deal.  Anybody subscribe to it?
    (8 books for $2) to begin, then each month a set of 2 for $12 upon
    approval - only have to buy a total of 4 orders (eight books)
    in the "club".
    (These are Canadian Prices)
    Contains all those mentioned in previous replies plus stuff like the
    Eastman books, the Berenstein (sp?) Bears, etc.
    
    Monica
    (I've had great success with the Book-of-the-Month Club, so I am
    inclined to join this one)
    

    We got that series 6 years ago when Steven was a babe.  Would
    definitely recommend it.  The books are good, they're nice
    hardbound books in a convenient size, and they've lasted through
    Steven and are now surviving David.  Plus the kids really start to
    look forward to getting their two new books every month.  We wound
    up getting the entire series, which I think was about 48 books
    over 3+ years.  It adds up to quite a bit of money but I thought
    it was a pretty cheap way to help stimulate Steven's interest in
    books.
    
    --bonnie

    
    I second Bonnie's reply.  We bought the set 6 years ago and read them
    to our son over and over and over...... Now he's reading them to us,
    we really enjoy it!
    
    Rochelle

    	Let's not forget Fox In Sox.  See how fast you can read it to
    	your kids.  Either you'll all end up laughing hilariously, or
    	you will totally amaze your kids if you survive to the end.  It's
    	also good practice for articulation.  It'll get you ready for
    	that next big presentation in front of the boss.
    
    	Joe Oppelt

    I just read "The Unforgettable Dr. Seuss" in the April Reader's Digest
    and I'm crying.  He's got to be one of the most important men of the
    20th century.
    
    Bob