Oh the Things You Can Think...When you think about Seuss

Theodore Giesel, or as many of you know him, Doctor Seuss is a renowned children's book author.  His stories bring back pleasant memories of childhood and recitations of his rhymes without hesitation.  Whether you remember having Cat in the Hat read to you as a child or received a copy of Oh, The places You'll Go as a grad present or even this year as you may watch the classic Christmas tale of The Grinch who Stole Christmas (the live action one obviously), you have almost certainly encountered and enjoyed Dr. Seuss' simple rhymes with deep meanings. 

Oddly enough, the first crack at a children's book for Seuss came from a bet and resulted in one of his most popular books, Green Eggs and Ham. He was to write this book in 50 words or less and have it be an engaging and entertaining and with only $50 on the line, Seuss changed an entire culture of children's books.

This creative process would continue onto his later books.  While writing Cat in the Hat Seuss used only words from a first grade vocabulary list.  Not only did this book sell one million copies within its first three years in print, it was transformed into a full length film and The Cat in the Hat has become a cultural icon.

As previously mentioned in lectures, building constraints for yourself is actually quite good for producing creative work.  It forces you to think outside of the box and keeps you from, well, doing this when you can't come up with anything good.

Some consider Seuss one of the greatest American poets.  Even writing that makes me wince but in terms of what he has contributed and cultural/paradigm shifting, Seuss takes the cake.  Critics are quick to turn up their noses due to the fact that his work is meant for children.  However, think about The Lorax.  That book is absolutely about environmental issues and preserving nature.  Many other books have been analyzed and determined to have greater depth than first glance. 

Unfortunately some of the meanings are taken out of context. In Horton Hears a Who, the line " A person's a person no matter how small" has been used as propaganda for Pro-life groups.  While he was alive, Seuss threatened to sue a specific pro-life group unless they removed this quote from their letterhead.

Seuss remains a source of contention still today with parents claiming his work is nothing but jumbled nonsense that is making it harder for their children to read.  However, this intentional breaking rules of language and cognition being exposed to such young children may help them retain some of their childhood curiosity that will eventually bloom into adulthood creativity. In a way these books describing new alphabets and creating nonsensical words are teaching children to be divergent thinkers, which we know from Smith & Ward leads to creative thought.  

Not only did Seuss teach divergent thinking, he actively pursued nonsensical and illogical premises (e.g. An elephant sitting on a bird's egg to keep it warm).  In the words of Seuss,  "I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells.  Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living; it's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope.  Which is what I do and that enables you to laugh at life's realities." 

Regardless, Seuss is here to stay.  Even 25 years after his death, his books remain on the top of the leaderboards.  He has sold over 66 million copies and has had 16 books in the top 100, not to mention numerous movies and even a successful broadway musical...which has been stuck in my head for the past week.  Please enjoy this early 2000s video from the opening of Seussical on Broadway.  I was shocked and amazed at the political and social commentary in the show when I watched a video of it last week.  

I promise you there is more than meets the eye to Seuss and when you really think about Seuss, oh the thinks you can think...