When you ask folks to name an author of children's books, Dr. Seuss is likely to be one of the first responses you get. Since this month is the 110th anniversary of his birth, we decided to base this month's challenge on Dr. Seuss. Have fun!
MARCH 2014 SCAVENGER - DR. SEUSS
DURATION: March 1- March 31, 2014
1. Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known to the world as the beloved Dr. Seuss, was born on March 2, 1904, on Howard Street in Springfield, Massachusetts. Geisel died of throat cancer on September 24, 1991, at his home in La Jolla, California, at the age of 87.
Read a book set in Massachusetts or California OR a book with a character who has a major illness.
2. Ted left Springfield as a teenager to attend Dartmouth College, where he became editor-in-chief of Jack-O-Lantern, Dartmouth's humor magazine. His father wanted him to be a college professor, so Ted went on to Oxford University in England after graduation. Academic studies bored him, and he decided to tour Europe instead. He did not graduate, but while at Oxford, he met, Helen Palmer, who later became his wife.
Read a book shelved as “humor” OR a book set in England OR a book in which a wedding takes place.
3. Geisel's first work signed "Dr. Seuss" was published in Judge magazine in 1927. The first book that he both wrote and illustrated, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, was rejected 27 times before finally being published by Vanguard Press in 1937. His last book, published the year before his death, was Oh, the Places You'll Go! , which became a popular gift for graduating students.
Read a book by an author who publishes under more than one name OR a book with a 2 and a 7 in its total number of pages OR a book that was published after the author’s death, but still under his/her name.
4. Geisel's most famous pen name is regularly pronounced /ˈs(j)uːs/, an anglicized pronunciation of his German surname (the standard German pronunciation is [ˈzɔʏ̯s]). He himself noted that it rhymed with "voice" (his own pronunciation being /ˈsɔɪs/). Alexander Liang, one of his collaborators on the Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern, wrote:
You're wrong as the deuce
And you shouldn't rejoice
If you're calling him Seuss.
He pronounces it Soice
Geisel switched to the anglicized pronunciation because it "evoked a figure advantageous for an author of children's books to be associated with -— Mother Goose" and because most people used this pronunciation.
Read a book with a “foreign” word in its title OR a book where the first letter of EVERY WORD in the title (all words count!) can be found in MOTHERGOOSE. Titles must be at least three words long, and to use a letter more than once, it must appear more than once in the phrase.
5. In May 1954, Life magazine published a report on illiteracy among school children, concluding that children were not learning to read because their books were boring. As a result, William Ellsworth Spaulding, the director of the education division at Houghton Mifflin, compiled a list of 348 words he felt were important for first-graders to recognize and asked Geisel to cut the list to 250 words and write a book using only those words. Nine months later, Geisel, using 236 of the words given to him, completed The Cat in the Hat, probably the defining book of his career. It maintained the drawing style, verse rhythms, and all the imagination of Geisel's earlier works, but because of its simplified vocabulary, could be read by beginning readers.
Read a non-fiction book dealing with literacy OR a book with the word CAT or HAT in its title OR a book whose title includes only words that are no more than five letters long. ALL WORDS COUNT, and titles must be at least three words long.
6. At the time of his death, he had written and illustrated 44 children's books, including such all-time favorites as Green Eggs and Ham, Oh, the Places You'll Go, Fox in Socks, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. His books had been translated into more than 15 languages, and over 200 million copies had found their way into homes and hearts around the world. His works have spawned numerous adaptations, including 11 television specials, four feature films, a Broadway musical and four television series.
Read a book that has been made into a movie, a TV special or a TV series OR a book with two (or more) rhyming words in its title OR a book with a 4 in its original publication date.
7. Dr. Seuss has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but, although he received numerous awards during his career, he never won the Caldecott Medal or the Newbery Medal. His honors included two Academy awards, two Emmy awards and a Peabody award. In 1984, he won a special Pulitzer Prize citing his "contribution over nearly half a century to the education and enjoyment of America's children and their parents." In 2004, U.S. children's librarians established the annual Theodor Seuss Geisel Award to recognize "the most distinguished American book for beginning readers published in English in the United States during the preceding year." Geisel's birthday, March 2, has been adopted as the annual date for National Read Across America Day, an initiative on reading created by the National Education Association.
Read a book that has won an award (be sure to post a link to the award site where the book is listed) OR a book written by or about a celebrity OR a book you got from the library.
8. Geisel also wrote a pair of books for adults: The Seven Lady Godivas, a retelling of the Lady Godiva legend that included nude depictions; and You're Only Old Once!, which chronicles an old man's journey through a clinic.
Read a book originally published in the 1980s OR a book that is outside an author’s usual genre (example: David Baldacci is known for his adult thriller books, but he also writes books for children)
Yes I have joined yet another challenge but who can resist Dr. Seuss.
My list of books: (which might change)
- ✔ Read a book set in Massachusetts or California OR a book with a character who has a major illness. An Unlikely Match by Barbara Dunlop
- ✔ Read a book shelved as “humor” OR a book set in England OR a book in which a wedding takes place. Seduction and Snacks by Tara Sivec
- ✔ Read a book by an author who publishes under more than one name OR a book with a 2 and a 7 in its total number of pages OR a book that was published after the author’s death, but still under his/her name. - Vinter-Eventyr by Karen Blixen. (Isak Dinesen, Pierre Andrézel and more).
- ✔ Read a book with a “foreign” word in its title OR a book where the first letter of EVERY WORD in the title (all words count!) can be found in MOTHERGOOSE. Titles must be at least three words long, and to use a letter more than once, it must appear more than once in the phrase. One Sweet Moment by Maggie Craig
- ✔ Read a non-fiction book dealing with literacy OR a book with the word CAT or HAT in its title OR a book whose title includes only words that are no more than five letters long. ALL WORDS COUNT, and titles must be at least three words long. - Two Weeks with a SEAL by Theresa Marguerite Hewitt
- ✔ Read a book that has been made into a movie, a TV special or a TV series OR a book with two (or more) rhyming words in its title OR a book with a 4 in its original publication date. - Death du Jour by Kathy Reichs. (TV-series Bones)
- ✔ Read a book that has won an award (be sure to post a link to the award site where the book is listed) OR a book written by or about a celebrity OR a book you got from the library. - The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (2009 Hugo Award Winner)
- ✔ Read a book originally published in the 1980s OR a book that is outside an author’s usual genre (example: David Baldacci is known for his adult thriller books, but he also writes books for children). Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams
- Two Weeks with a SEAL by Theresa Marguerite Hewitt
- The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (2009 Hugo Award Winner)
- Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams
- Seduction and Snacks by Tara Sivec
- One Sweet Moment by Maggie Craig
- An Unlikely Match by Barbara Dunlop
- Vinter-Eventyr by Karen Blixen
- Death du Jour by Kathy Reichs
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