Dr. Seuss offering is good introduction to reading

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Aug 23, 2001

Nothing can ever take the place of a parent and child huddled up with a book while they share in an excursion through the excitement on the pages. Many times a child’s love or hatred of the written word is based on the memories she has of reading. A parent who can provide rich memories of reading runs a very good chance of creating a love of the written word by that child.

With that in mind, I must apologize. In my last column I mentioned I don’t remember being read to by my parents. Well, I don't remember being read Winnie the Pooh when I was 3, of course I don’t remember – I was too young. My problem was generalizing my childhood. I do remember Mom reading to me. I remember the books that littered our room and the book shelf in mom’s room. I remember the table that stored dozens of kids’ book after my sister and I outgrew them. And I remember sitting cross-legged in front of that table and fishing out one book after another to read with my little brother, or to read by myself.

And I remember Dr. Seuss. I remember the blue cover to mom’s favorite Dr. Seuss book, “And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street” and how that book became one of my favorites when my kids were born. I grew up on Dr. Seuss: “Are You My Mother?”, “The Foot Book”, “Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?”, “Hop on Pop”, “Dr. Seuss’s ABC”.

And that’s where this column is going. Random House, the publisher of the Beginner Books series that included Dr. Seuss books, turned the books into videos beginning in the 80’s. These are not like the animated “Cat in the Hat” story televised in the 1960s. These are still frames of the book illustrations.

In the video I reviewed for this column, the producers combined “Dr. Seuss’s ABC”, “I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!”, and “Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?” on one videotape. Narrators read the text of the books the same way Mom might read to her young daughters. Page after page, viewers get the feeling they are actually being read to. My sons love to take their books off the shelf and follow along with the taped reading.

The narrators approach the text with animated voices that match the drawings and what I imagine was Dr. Seuss’s own reading. The voices are not condescending but matter-of-fact. The narrators don’t try to demean the reading or talk down to the viewers. You get the feeling they’re Dr. Seuss lovers, too.

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