Dr. Seuss’ book Happy Birthday to You ends with these very appropriate lines, considering that on Wednesday it will have been 118 years since the author — much loved by children of all ages — was born.
“I am what I am! That’s a great thing to be!
“If I say so myself, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!”
Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known by his pen name Dr. Seuss, was born on March 2, 1904, in Springfield, Mass. And in 1998, the National Educational Association celebrated the anniversary by creating Read Across America Day, to be held on that date each year.
The arrangement between the NEA and Dr. Seuss Enterprises ended in 2019, and Read Across America has now evolved into a year-round program. Then in 2021, Dr. Seuss Enterprises ceased publication of six books due to their antiquated, insensitive portrayal, per a statement, of “people in ways that are hurtful and wrong.”
Kerry Teeple is an assistant professor in the University of Findlay’s College of Education who writes about children’s literature for The Blade. She said that while the NEA’s having “pulled away from Dr. Seuss” is understandable, and the organization “absolutely” did the right thing in halting publication of the selected books, it “makes me sad as an educator and a book enthusiast.”
“I think each book has its own life,” she said, “so you can say, ‘Let’s not read those six,’ but continue to read the others.”
The remaining books are “wonderful,” she continued, particularly “for establishing a rhyming schema.” Rhyming “ties into that part of your brain that helps with phonics. His books are helpful in learning that skill.”
Also, “The Sneetches is so great to talk about exclusion or inclusion — that book is very social justice oriented,” Ms. Teeple pointed out, referencing the story about a green belly star that’s considered a status symbol. “If you have the star on you, you’re better than the others. Clearly, [Dr. Seuss] was saying that was unkind.”
As important as the lessons are, Ms. Teeple said, don’t forget that the whimsical books are simply “entertaining” and fun.
“Why, we can have lots of good fun, if you wish,” says the Cat in the Hat. “It is fun to have fun, but you have to know how.”
Well, we know how: by celebrating both books and a birthday this week, with some Seuss-inspired dishes. After all, food is a featured subject in several of the author’s works.
“I love Green Eggs and Ham,” Ms. Teeple said, which encourages “trying new things, letting yourself explore, [and] trying new opportunities.” There’s also The Butter Battle Book, she said, where the controversy is whether to eat bread butter-side down (“the terribly horrible thing that Zooks do”) or by buttering the top side, which the Yooks proclaim is the “right, honest way!”
Ms. Teeple teaches a variety of courses to future teachers, and Dr. Seuss books are an integral part of each syllabus.
One class is “about using children’s literature to talk about the environment. The obvious choice that we read is, of course, The Lorax,” she said.
Another of her favorites is The Cat in the Hat, which she uses in her educational psychology class to teach Freud’s theories. The id, for example — “wanting to just do whatever you want and I’m just gonna go for it, that’s the Cat,” Ms. Teeple explained. “The superego, that’s your moral. That’s the goldfish in the bowl,” always chastising the rambunctious Cat.
And finally, “the kids are the ego: Do I do what seems super fun, or do I listen to my morals?”
In one of her science methods courses, Ms. Teeple even mixes cornstarch and water to make a very Seussian substance: oobleck, the sticky green goo that rains down from the sky in Bartholomew and the Oobleck. (The method can be found here).
“It’s a non-Newtonian fluid,” she explained, “which means that it doesn’t have a specific state of matter. It’s kind of a liquid and it’s kind of a solid, and it’ll shift back and forth.”
“That’s why I use books,” Ms. Teeple said, and particularly some from Dr. Seuss. “You can just come up with all kinds of awesome things.”
Who-Hash
In Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, the thieving title character packed up “Pop guns! And bicycles! Roller skates! Drums! Checkerboards! Tricycles! Popcorn! And plums!” And “that Grinch even took their last can of Who-hash!”
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 red onion, chopped
1 cup chopped sweet pepper (red, green, yellow, orange, or a mix)
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups chopped, cooked meat (see note)
¼ chicken stock, optional
2 cups chopped, cooked potatoes
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
4 fried or poached eggs, for serving
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions, sweet pepper, and garlic. Sauté until the vegetables are tender.
Add the meat and sauté briefly. If it seems a bit dry, add the stock and cook, stirring, until the liquid is absorbed.
Add the potatoes and season the hash to taste with salt and pepper. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are crisping and turning golden.
Divide the hash among 4 serving plates and place an egg on top of each portion.
Note: The Whos’ Christmas roast beast looks very poultry-ish. So we’ve used chicken for our hash, but feel free to make this with corned beef, roast beef, ham, or any other meat(s) you like.
Yield: 4 servings
Source: Mary Bilyeu and seussville.com
The Yink’s Pink Ink Drink
In One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, Dr. Seuss writes about a Yink who likes to wink and likes to drink. “The thing he likes to drink is ink. The ink he likes to drink is pink.”
1 pint vanilla bean-flavored coconut milk non-dairy ice cream, slightly softened
1 6-ounce jar maraschino cherries without stems, juice included
⅓ cup light coconut milk
Whipped topping
2 maraschino cherries with stems, for garnish
Place the ice cream, stemless cherries with juice, and coconut milk into a blender and blend into a milkshake. Pour into 2 large glasses, then garnish each serving with whipped topping and a stemmed cherry.
Yield: 2 generous servings
Source: Mary Bilyeu
Sneetch Star-Belly Sugar Cookies
The Sneetches with “stars upon thars” — green stars on their stomachs — thought they were superior to the Plain-Belly ones. But they all learn that “Sneetches are Sneetches,” in Dr. Seuss’ The Sneetches and Other Stories, and no status symbol (or lack of a marking) makes one better than another.
½ cup butter, softened
½ cup sugar
3 tablespoons milk, plus extra for brushing cookies
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
2 cups flour
Pinch of kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
Green sanding sugar
Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a mixing bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, 3 tablespoons milk, and vanilla. Mix in the egg.
Stir in the flour, salt, and baking powder until starting to combine, then turn the dough onto a work surface and knead just until it holds together.
Lightly dust the work surface with flour and roll out the dough to ¼-inch thickness. Use a 3½- to 4-inch 5-point star-shaped cookie cutter to cut out cookies; place them 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.
Brush a bit of milk over each cookie and sprinkle thoroughly with the green sugar. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until the cookies are just golden at the edges. Cool completely on a wire rack.
Note: For a Seussian look, use a hand-drawn template and cut around it instead of using a cookie cutter to form the star shapes.
Yield: About 2 dozen cookies
Source: Mary Bilyeu
First Published February 27, 2022, 5:00 p.m.
