Seuss stories grow with Vail Valley readers

EAGLE COUNTY, Colorado — Read “Green Eggs and Ham” to a three-year-old, and you’ll find them giggling, clapping and blurting-out rhymes.

Read by that same child a couple years later — as a kindergartner, third grader, then an adult — the story becomes a chronicle of the finicky eater, a tale for anyone who’s ever refused a Brussels sprout, a parable about judging anything before trying it.

In other words, Dr. Seuss, aka, Theodore Seuss Geisel, author of 44 children’s books, grows with you. This is why parents and teachers are still reading Dr. Seuss to children, and it’s why schools and libraries celebrate his birthday, March 2.

Judi Leseur, a teacher at Montessori Preschool, is watching students from the Eagle County Charter Academy read Dr. Seuss books to the wide-eyed little-ones in honor of his birthday. Some are reading “There’s a Wocket in My Pocket,” others “The Foot Book.” One group is reading “Green Eggs and Ham” — Leseur’s favorite.

The story begins with the incorrigible Sam-I-am shoving a plate of strangely colored food via robotic arm under the nose of a furry old curmudgeon who insists, “I do not like them, Sam-I-am, I do not like green eggs and ham!”

Sam-I-am won’t rest until the grump gives in, posing scenario after scenario of when this fellow eat green eggs and ham — would he like them here or there, or would he like them in a house, or even with a mouse? In a car? On a train? In the dark?

Seeking an end to his rhyming torment, the man agrees to try the green eggs and ham. And when he finally tastes, he has a revelation: “Say, I like green eggs and ham! I do, I like them, Sam-I-am!”

“Kids don’t like vegetables because they’re green, but when they try them, it’s not so bad after all,” Leseur said.

Dr. Seuss festivities Gypsum Public Library, Monday, 6 p.m. Avon Public Library, Friday, 1 p.m. Eagle Public Library, Friday, 2 p.m. At the Avon and Eagle Public Libraries, there will be Dr. Seuss stories, birthday cake and party games in collaboration with Read Across America. At the Gypsum Public Library, there will be some Reader’s Theater. Have some cake and enjoy “Daisy-Head Mayzie” as read and performed by local talent.

Why it works

The whimsy of “Green Eggs and Ham” draws children in, like so many of Dr. Seuss’ books, but for a three-year-old, it’s that rhyming and repetition — Sam, am, ham, — that keeps them captivated.

“The rhyme makes it really fun to read and it allows kids to laugh when they read,” said Elizabeth Dekanich, a reading specialist at the Charter Academy.

Dr. Seuss books use only the most basic words — the, cat, in, the, hat, for instance — the first words children learn to read and write, Dekanich said.

“It should be in everyone’s curriculum — he originally wrote the books with the intention of helping kids read,” Dekanich said.

The imaginative stories themselves become imbedded in our brains and are part of our culture. “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” “Oh, the Places You’ll Go,” and “One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish,” — everyone seems to have a favorite Dr. Seuss book.

Rita Oppenheimer, a teacher at the Montessori school, said “Hop on Pop” is her favorite. Liz Hinton, another teacher at the Montessori school, said her favorite book is also “Green Eggs and Ham.” She remembers her mother reading it to her as a child, and even, on occasion, dying their eggs green at breakfast time.

Kendra Doepken, who’s in charge of children’s programming at the Gypsum Library, said her favorite is “Daisy Head Mayzie,” which is the story of a little girl who starts growing a flower out of her head. Students from elementary, middle and high school will be performing “Daisy Head Mayzie” next week at the library.

Evolving lessons

The morals of these stories are absorbed at the most basic level as a child and seen with wisdom as an adult.

“I feel like you can read them as a kindergartner or first grader, and there are morals in it you can see,” Dekanich said. “But it’s a never ending story— you can always gain something from it.”

For instance, a child might feel sad when they see the forests being chopped down in the “The Lorax.” As an adult, something even deeper might be seen — a biting critique of industrialized society’s impact on the environment.

Dekanich’s favorite, at least for now, is “What Was I Scared Of?” the story of a boy who keeps encountering a pair of pants walking around with no one inside them. It’s a frightening sight, to be sure, but eventually, the boy realize the pants are afraid of him as well, and they become best friends.

“It’s really silly — it makes my own children giggle a lot when we read it,” Dekanich said. “In the past week, we’ve probably read it two, three times a night.”


Staff Writer Matt Terrell can be reached at 748-2955 or mterrell@vaildaily.com.