The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss (1957)

Saturday is Dr Seuss' birthday!!!!!!!

So why not use one of my free days to write about the most beloved of children's authors and one of his greatest books? So let's talk about the Cat in the Hat.

In 1954, Theodore Geisel read an article called, "Why do students bog down on the first \R?" (This refers to the 3 Rs-reading, writing, (a)rithmatic. I know, only one of them actually starts with an R.) In the article, John Hershey was upset about the quality of the books available to elementary students for reading.

This article led to a challenge from Houghton Mifflin's education division head, William Ellsworth Spaulding-create a book using only 225 words from the list of 348 words that every 6-year-old should know that will appeal broadly to 6 and 7-year-olds. The story uses a total of 1629 words, most of which are single-syllable words.

Now that I've talked about the history, let's talk about the book that you should already know about:

It's a rainy day, and our two young children are stuck inside while their mother is away. They get a visit from a strange creature known as the Cat in the Hat. He speaks in rhyme and has a messy and dangerous idea of fun, especially if you are a fish.

In the book, the children are overwhelmed by the aggressive nature of the Cat in the Hat, and even a talking fish isn't up to the task of chasing him away. The Cat in the Hat tries to show off his balancing skills by holding a growing variety of items while standing and even bouncing on a ball before everything crashes, and he enlists the aid of Thing 1 and Thing 2 in his chaos.

The story ends with the return of the mother, but before she comes in the door, the Cat in the Hat returns and picks up the mess.

In 1971, there was a musical version of the book in cartoon form. It makes the children more active in enjoying the antics of the Cat in the Hat, and gives the Cat in the Hat more reason for staying. After being expelled from the house, he returns in a search for his  "moss-covered three-handled family gradunza." No one knows what this is, but they turn the house upside down looking for it. The fish gets a name (Karlos K. Krinkelbein) and has more of a role than just trying to kick the Cat in the Hat out of the house.

My favorite part of this cartoon comes near the end when the Cat in the Hat gets to sing a song about his name that includes translating Cat in the Hat into different languages. (Cat, hat, in French, chat, chapeau. In Spain I am a gato in el sombrero.)

If you haven't read this book before, then shame on you. Go get one of the 11 million copies that have been published. Also, check out the cartoon. It is worth the time.

The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia Wrede

Is it just me, or are all of the stories involving a princess about a discontent princess who doesn't want to be a princess? (At least most of the modern tales seem to be that way.)

Princess Cimorene may not be happy being a princess, but she definitely doesn't fit into the mold of your typical discontented princess. Fortunately, that part of the story ends by the end of the first chapter, and Cimorene can move on to more important details.

To avoid marrying a rather worthless prince, Cimorene follow the advice of a talking frog and makes her way to a cave. This cave just happens to be filled with dragons. The dragons debate what to do with her since "It just isn't done" for a dragon to take a willing princess. One of the dragons, Kazul, declares that this tradition is stupid and takes Cimorene on as her princess.

Cimorene has to deal with all sorts of duties that she actually enjoys-organizing the library and a variety of collections, cooking dragon-sized meals, and leaning about magic and fighting. She also has to deal with a variety of heroes trying to rescue her.

So things seem to be going well, so let's throw in some complications. What about wizards? In this world, wizards get to use magic by stealing it from other sources. They are always trying to find new sources of magic and causing trouble. Oh, dragons are allergic to wizards because their staffs try to take the magic that dragons generate naturally.

Dragons and wizards don't get along for another reason, because wizards are not polite, and dragons demand a certain level of formality.

The first book is Dealing with Dragons and deals with Cimorene and friends trying to prevent the wizards from influencing the choice of the next King of the Dragons.

What about this Enchanted Forest?
In the Enchanted Forest, we meet King Mendenbar who also isn't terribly excited about the formality of his role as the King. In fact, if it weren't for the awesome magical powers, he would probably just walk away from it all. You see, the King of the Enchanted Forest is able to access the magic of the forest directly. He sees the magical patterns and use it by reaching out and touching the magical field.

He discovers that part of the forest has been damaged. It looks like it was burned, and since there are dragon scales in the area, it must have been a dragon. He travels to the Mountains of Morning to talk with Kozul the King of the Dragons. (King is a job so gender doesn't matter a little bit.)

Mendenbar meet Cimorene and they get along pretty well even though her dislike of princes and his dislike of princesses could have been a sticky issue. Kozul is missing, and the two decide to go looking for her.

I'm going to skip  books three and four so I can talk about some of the great characters you get to meet in these stories.

• Morwen is not your typical witch. She doesn't wear a pointy hat and she has nine cats instead of one, but she is an amazing woman. Her door is enchanted to go wherever she wants it to go. Her sleeves are enchanted to hold lots of stuff. She is an amazing witch, and she is an amazing friend.
• Telemain is an absent-minded magician. He is often mistaken for a wizard, but while wizards steal magic and only work with their staffs, magicians work with a variety of magics. Telemain works in a variety of cool things like magic mirrors and helping Mendenbar understand the magics of the Enchanted Forest.

Those two are also main characters, but I also want to give you some incentive to read these books by listing some other characters you will encounter.

• All of Morwen's cats because the story follows her in the third book, so you get to hear them.
• Killer-a rabbit that falls under a variety of enchantments and ends up as an intangible blue donkey with wings.
• The giant and his wife from Jack and the beanstalk
• Herman, the descendant of Rumplestiltskin, who has a large number of children he has won from spinning straw into gold. He loves them, but he can't afford them.
• Old MacDonald

There are plenty of others to mention, but hopefully I've convinced you to check them out if you haven't already.

Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats (Caldecott 1963)

Ezra Jack Keats was a prolific writer of children's books, and he drew from the flavor of his own childhood, and the neighborhood where he grew up to find his stories. Snowy Day is the adventures of a young boy who is enjoying the snow fall. His adventures aren't extraordinary, but very relatable to children.

• Peter makes 2 trails as he drags his feet in the snow. Then there are suddenly 3 trails. What could have caused this?
• What happens when Peter strikes the snow-covered tree with a stick?
• What happens when you put a now ball in your coat pocket when you go inside?

Peter is just an oridnary boy experiencing a snowy day in the only way an ordinary boy can experience it.

One of the best features of this book, and all the books illustrated by Ezra Jack Keats is the art work. As an artist, Keats tends to use cut paper to make the shapes he desires, and the effect of the images are startling. So what can you do with this book in the classroom?

• Talk about what kinds of activities your students like to do when it snows.
• Make your own "Snowy Day Adventure" book
• Create cut-paper pictures.
• Using pre-formed panels, students can draw pictures of the story.

Those are just a few ideas. Feel free to make up your own ideas, and feel free to share them in the comments section below.

So You Want to be President? by Judith St. George (2001 Caldecott)

Even though this collection of facts and details is old enough to be missing a few Presidents, this book is still a great way to get your kids thinking about who the President is, and how you might get to hold that office. It doesn't spend a lot of time talking about what the job entails, instead it looks at similarities and differences between the men who have held the office over the years.

You get all sorts of trivia including the most popular names for Presidents and how many people could fit in President Taft's bathtub. It's a bit denser than you would expect from a Caldecott book in the 21st Century, but It's still a very interesting book, and well worth your time.

Lincoln-a Photo Biography by Russell Freedman (1988 Newberry Medal Winner)

You may think that you know about the life and times of Abraham Lincoln, but he was a complex man with a life full of complications and even the thorough examination prepared by Russell Freedman doesn't give us everything we could know. That really isn't possible, but he does manage to give a very clear, and impartial picture of Mr. Lincoln's life.

You probably have a good idea about the story of Abraham Lincoln. You may not know about his difficulties in becoming the President, and the challenges he faced while he was in office, but I won't get into those right now.

Let's talk about all of the ways you can use this book in your setting (whatever it might be.)

• As a photo biography, this book is loaded with photographs from the time of Lincoln, so you can see actual images of the times and places that were significant in Lincoln's life.
• Discuss the differences between the time of the Civil War and today.
• Talk about the reasons that Lincoln freed the slaves.
• Discuss why the Southern states were willing to fight.
• How does someone become President?

I'm sure you can come up with plenty of other ideas for this book as well. Enjoy!

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes (1944)

You may not have read this book, but I'm fairly certain that some teacher asked you to at some point. Johnny Tremain is a standard book that ties into a curriculum of English teachers to explore American history and American literature.

Johnny Tremain is a promising apprentice of silver smith Ephraim Lapham. Johnny loses his apprenticeship due to an accident while working on a big order for merchant, John Hancock. Johnny burns his hand and will never be able to do the delicate artistry needed for being a silver smith. The rest of the story follows Johnny as he struggles to make a living, and find a profession that will work for him.

It sounds fairly simple as a story, but its importance comes more from the historical setting. Readers get to meet some figures from the period around the Revolutionary War, and discover the political situation of the era.

This is an era when Democrats and Republicans are not even an idea yet. Instead, you have the arguments of the Whigs and Tories.

Who do you get to meet?

• Samuel Adams
• John Hancock
• Paul Revere
• many others who aren't so well known

This book is a great tool for the historical setting, and conversations about why the American colonies decided to rebel from England. You can also look at the apprenticeship system and how it is designed.

Johnny Tremain has long been a tool for teachers. Don't miss your chance to use it in your classroom.