Reading is Fun with Dr. Seuss (Dr Seuss) (Paperback)

Children begin with quite vivid imaginations, and education (and the socializing process) quickly discourage their imaginations in favor of coloring between the lines (following the conformist rules). This wonderful book by Dr. Seuss extolls the creative process and liberates the child (and the parent) to use their imaginations. "THINK! You can think any THINK that you wish . . . Think of a race on a horse on a ball with a fish!" It's like getting a license to use your natural creativity.

The book encourages creativity in a variety of effective ways. As the above quote shows, juxtaposition (combined with wonderfully funny illustrations) can allow the child to see that words can be jumbled together in ways to create fantastic images. The book begins and ends with this method.

Through the book, the illustrations are drawn to highlight the unusual. Many different colors are combined, in odd ways, and in odd shapes.

Then, after the imagination is revved up a bit, Dr. Seuss begins to do mental pirouettes by introducing such creatures as GUFFS (fuzzy orange creatures with tails that have large furry balls along them them), SNUVS (yellow creatures wearing color mismatched gloves -- you can see how the name sometimes helps with the rhyming), BLOOGS (green, yellow, and blue creatures blowing by in the white sky above the black water), and ZONGS (with a tail that is 15 times as long as the body which winds among blue and pink mushrooms).

Of course, the visions are sometimes more literal: Kitty O'Sullivan Krauss diving into a balloon pool over her house.

I thought that the RINK-RINKER-FINK and the VIPPER of VIPP were especially wonderful inventions. They juxtapose many different concepts in a particularly mind-liberating way.

If any book can overcome you tradition, misconception, and disbelief stalls, this one is it. By sharing it with your children while they are young, you can keep them from ever developing the stalls in the first place.

To help other parents apply this advice, as a parent of four I consulted an expert, our youngest child, and asked her to share with me her favorite books that were read to her as a young child. Marvin K. Mooney, Will You Please Go Now! was one of her picks.

Marvin K. Mooney is an excellent choice of a beginning reader after your child has read about 20 books and is ready for something just a little more challenging. The reason I say that is because there are a number of Dr. Seuss's imaginary creatures and inventions in here, so the illustrations don't totally tell you what the words are. For example, you will see a Ga-Zoom, a Bumble-Boat, a Zumble-Zay, and a Crunk-Car. These are, by the way, the most witty and imaginative illustrations as well.

The fun of the story relates to an impatient adult (displayed by an arm and a hand wearing a watch) who wants Marvin K. Mooney to go. Marvin just listens until the end, when he goes. It isn't clear if Marvin K. Mooney is the child of the hand or the child's friend whose parent wants him to leave. It doesn't really matter. I lean towards the latter explanation. But we all know how adults like to say the whole name of a child to let them know the adult is very serious.

Yet, the book isn't serious at all in any other way. The suggestions for leaving are very funny, and take things that could otherwise be scary and make them humorous (like leaving by taking a ride on a lion's tail).

In typical Dr. Seuss fashion, the story is displayed in a rhyme. Like a good beginning reader, there is a lot of repetition to help the young person. "The time has come. The time is now. Just go. Go. GO! I don't care how." The new sentences usually just replace one or two words. The illustrations encourage the child to keep moving ahead by keeping the mood light as she or he struggles with soon-to-be familiar words. Using the imaginative words is good, too, so that a child can learn to recognize new things.

Obviously, you will want to read this book along with your youngster until he or she gets a command of it. You can start at the beginning, and ask you youngster to read with you as soon as the book is memorized. Then, gradually, you can let your youngster take the lead. If the young person falters a bit, you can provide hints.

Have a great time exploring reading together! What else could you be exploring together that would be fun for both of you?

To help other parents apply this advice, as a parent of four I consulted an expert, our youngest child, and asked her to share with me her favorite books that were read to her as a young child. I Can Read with My Eyes Shut! was one of her picks.

To me, the brilliance of this book is in its title. This book encourages children to memorize this book. My four children all began to learn to read by first memorizing books. Then they could begin to match what they had memorized with words on the page. The next step was to then identify the word and be able to say it in an unmemorized book. Finally, they could read alone. Memorization is a key step, and I notice that many first-time parents don't realize that. Dr. Seuss provides the big clue here for children and parents. The choice of long words with funny sounds is particularly clever as a way to encourage memorizing. Who could decode Mississippi, Indianapolis, Hallelujah, Schenectady, and Wilkes-Barre the first time they saw them? Putting the place names on signs on a road emphasizes the child's obvious interest in becoming a driver some day. Brilliant!

Aside from the theme, the book has the great qualities of all Dr. Seuss's books for learning to read. There's lots of repetition. The adjectives can be translated into pictures, and the stories are humorously illustrated. For example, "I can read in blue. I can read in pickle color too." The four color words are all printed in a larger type size in the color described. The Cat in the Hat is wearing pickle color glasses that match the words pickle color in the sentence above. The rhyming scheme used throughout also makes it easier to memorize and progress.

The book also has wonderful conceptual material such as left and right examples, being upside down, and how the order of words in a sentence affects their meaning (mice on ice, and ice on mice).

Then lest your child get a subliminal message to ignore what is going on around you, Dr. Seuss points out the advantages of having your eyes open. "You'll miss the best things if you keep your eyes shut."

After you have helped your child to memorize this book and begin to notice these words around her or him, I suggest that you try writing a book like this with your child on the same theme. You will probably have to do the writing down of words, but your child can certainly do the illustrations. In the process, you can begin to help your child learn about rhyming if you want to be ambitious. Afterwards, I suggest that you ask your child to tell you how he or she is learning to read, to encourage more consciousness of the role of memorization. Your enjoyment of poetry will always be enhanced by memorization. I suggest you try some for yourself as well.

Remember this advice!