The story goes that one man challenged a second man to write a children’s book using only 50 different words.

The first man was Bennett Cerf, founder of the Random House publishing company. The second man was Theodor Geisel, author, political cartoonist and animator.

The outcome of the bet: $50 in Geisel’s pocket and a little book titled “Green Eggs and Ham.”

The challenge was a win-win really. Random House, in 1960, published the work, which has sold more than 8 million copies.

Each year, at the beginning of March, schools mark the birthday of Geisel - known the world over as Dr. Seuss. This year, his birthday falls on a weekend, so many schools are starting the party early and holding special events this week and next in observance of Read Across America.

Dr. Seuss fans love his work because the prose is quick and rhyming and the illustrations colorful and quirky. The meter of the verse often consists of two short syllables followed by one that carries the stress.

“Oh, the places you’ll go! There is fun to be done!” (“Oh, The Places You’ll Go!,” 1990)

The “predictable rhythm” of Dr. Seuss’ sentences are said to be an important part of teaching children to read. According to Ann Neely, a professor of children’s literature at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn., the rhythm “gave children confidence in their own reading ability.”

Dr. Seuss’ prose also includes words concocted by his creative mind. Take, for instance, his book “The Lorax,” where we read about “thneeds,” “glupitty-glup” and “schloppity-schlopp.” Although academics think these words are helpful to learning to read, because they are fun, cleverly constructed and memorable, some parents worry they might be confusing because they are essentially just a “jumble of letters.”

One voiced this concern on The National Review: “I always thought the point of reading to children was to teach them about language. How does Dr. Seuss help? Heck, he knew so few words that he had to make most of his up.”

Another posted in an online discussion on Goodreads, “Is Dr. Seuss good for kids? He makes up words. Then when my kids start making up words, I have to be the bad guy and shoot them down.”

Vanderbilt University Assistant Professor Amanda P. Goodwin validated their concerns.

“It comes from the heart,” she said. “It comes from wanting their kids to do really well.”

But, she also said there’s so much more to the stories, “a silliness that can drive useful conversations, fuel creativity and, ultimately, help children better understand language.”

Silliness aside, the lessons found in these works are often deeper than many of us noticed on first - or 1,000th - read, and many of them are pulled from the author’s own life experiences.

Geisel was born in 1904 to a German immigrant family in Springfield, Mass. During the early days of World War I, at the age of 10, he would walk to school with his 12-year-old sister. As they made their way on Mulberry Street, the siblings were often bullied by peers who hit them with bricks and bats and shouted threats at them.

In his book “The Sneetches and Other Stories” (1961), he writes of Sneetches with stars and Sneetches without stars and the importance of recognizing that underneath the stars, the two are similar. While navigating through the creative wording, children and their parents can learn lessons of fairness and equality among people.

During Geisel’s childhood days in Springfield, former President Theodore Roosevelt visited the town to present Boy Scout medals to troop members who were top salesmen of Liberty Bonds, which supported the war effort. When the time came for Geisel to receive his award, not only was it missing, but a lecture by Roosevelt is said to have ensued.

According to Donald Pease, a professor of English at Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H., “Theodore Roosevelt looked down on Geisel and screamed, ‘What are you doing here, little boy? Who are you?’”

The whereabouts of the medal remains a mystery, but Pease said some scholars believe anti-German residents might have intentionally shorted the medal count.

Scholars also believe that specific memory from his childhood may have influenced the following line from “Horton Hears a Who” (1954): “Because, after all, a person’s a person, no matter how small.”

Geisel collected award after award during his life, a testament to his true talent. He earned a Pulitzer Prize in 1984 “for his contribution over nearly half a century to the education and enjoyment of America’s children and their parents.” He is the recipient of three Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award.

In 2010, he was named by Life Books in “100 People Who Changed the World,” described as “a fascinating look at a group of crucial individuals, as well as a history of how we got from the very distant and often unknowable past, to the here and now.” He was the only children’s author included in the list.

He has received Caldecott honors and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

As schools celebrate his birthday over the next few weeks, it is important to remember all that Geisel, in the guise of Dr. Seuss, contributed to generations of families. He was more than a creative and quirky mind. He was a teacher of life lessons. The silly way he presented them - that was just a bonus.

Kelly

Lutterschmidt

editor

Whitehall-Coplay Press

Northampton Press

Catasauqua Press