Something Extra: Celebrating Seuss
MIAMI (CBS4) - Do you like "Green Eggs and Ham?"
I will eat them in a boat and I will eat them with a goat.
So will most Americans, as today we celebrate a hundred and eight years since Dr. Seuss's birth.
All these years later, the works of Theodor Geisel are going stronger than ever.
Incredibly, one in four American kids gets one of his works as their first book, and a new movie, based on "The Lorax" just hit theaters.
Films, sixty books... even a theme park at Universal Studios... the Cat in the Hat, the Grinch and all his other characters hold a beloved place in American culture.
Dr. Seuss considered his greatest achievement killing off the "Dick and Jane" books because they were boring and not challenging for kids.
Nerds everywhere have Dr. Seuss to thank... or curse... for popularizing "nerd."
Its first documented use was in "If I Ran the Zoo" in nineteen fifty.
My favorite Seuss book, "Oh the Places You'll Go" remains a popular graduation gift. It proves that, sometimes, the simplest words are the wisest:
"So... be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,
you're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So...get on your way!"
