Saturday, March 31, 2012

Happy Birthmonth, Dr. Seuss! ... Of Books and Such, 6 March 2004


Earlier this month, March 2012, I started preparing the blog post you're reading now to celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday, but then current events, shall we say, heated up at my school, the University of Northern Iowassst, more on that later — and I got preoccupied and didn't finish it. So now I'm posting this within Dr. Seuss's birth month rather than day. Close enough.

Theodor Seuss Geisel, most famously known as Dr. Seuss — with whom many of us spent our happiest hours as small children, I'm certain — was born on 2 March 1904. For the sake of this errant and tardy blog post as well as the allure of being on time (at least in a fictional sense, sorta), why don't we call this March Dr. Seuss Month? Especially since the cartoon starring Danny DeVito as Dr. Seuss's mustachioed, cranky yet loveable, environmentalist, tree-hugging (in a good way) Lorax is still in theaters. Somewhere. Surely.

I'm going to take this Dr. Seuss Month opportunity to reprise — resurrect? — my "Of Books and Such" book-review column from the Cedar Falls Times in 2004. After all, books don't go stale, do they? Whenever you and I read a book, no matter when it first saw the light of day, it's new for us, it's born in our minds. Even if we've read it before, we renew it, right?

So . . . here is my Dr. Seuss Month offering of a "Of Books and Such" column from Dr. Seuss's centennial year. Cue gnarly, serpentine Seuss-ish trumpets: tah–tah–DAAH!




OF BOOKS AND SUCH
by Vince Gotera, Cedar Falls Times, 6 March 2004.

Oh, The Places He Went!
The Seuss, The Whole Seuss, and Nothing But the Seuss: A Visual Biography of Theodor Seuss Geisel by Charles D. Cohen, Random House, 2004, 390 pages, cloth $35.00.
I bet, for most of you reading this column, Dr. Seuss has been more present in our lives than Dr. Spock — the baby doctor, not the pointy-eared Vulcan. We grew up "living" on Mulberry Street and wishing we had 500 hats. We were babysat by Yertle the Turtle, the amiable elephant Horton (who heard a Who), the Grinch (who tried to steal Christmas), and of course The Cat in the Hat — in print as well as on TV. We read The Lorax to our kids, teaching them about caring for the environment, and we gave Oh, The Places You'll Go! as graduation gifts. The name Dr. Seuss, for us, brings up weird, gangly animals with long legs and feathers in unlikely places; scraggly trees with tufts of odd-colored foliage; and impossible yet charming architecture and machines.

This week (March 2, to be exact) marks the celebration of Dr. Seuss's 100th birthday: "The Seussentenial"! Check out <www.seussentennial.com> for more info. [No longer an active web address.]

So, who was Dr. Seuss? You may know he was born Theodor Seuss Geisel, but beyond that, what? Besides the myths he put on paper, Dr. Seuss often made myth out of his own life; "He was an unusual man, particularly with respect to his memory and vision," Charles Cohen writes, "and his penchant for storytelling and practical jokes often led people astray from the facts." It turns out that Dr. Seuss, or more properly, Ted Geisel, is as interesting a person as many of his creations.

Did you know, for example, that Geisel — let's call him Ted — was a well-known political cartoonist for years before his first children's book? That he used what we would now recognize as "Seussian" characters in nationally known ad campaigns for Flit insecticide and Standard Oil, again before what he at first called "brat-books"? That Ted published a book for adults called The Seven Lady Godivas featuring drawings of seven undressed sisters? (Though, as Carolyn See noted in Esquire, "In 1939 America was feeling too blue to be cheered up by pictures of silly ladies with no nipples and funny knees"). Did you know that during WWII, Ted served as Captain (and later Major) Theodor Geisel, working for Frank Capra (the famous director of It's a Wonderful Life) in a filmmaking unit in the Army, where he invented the cartoon character Private SNAFU, known to many vets from that war? Did you know that 1953, when I was not yet one year old, saw the release of Ted's big-budget Hollywood movie, The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T? This is the stuff (and more!) of which Cohen's enlightening and entertaining book is made.

The Seuss, The Whole Seuss, and Nothing But the Seuss is lavishly illustrated with thousands of illustrations from Seuss's work (magazine covers, political cartoons, sculptures, marionettes, and of course art from his books), photos from Geisel's personal life, action figures of Seussian characters, representative work from artists that influenced Dr. Seuss, and so on — the majority from Cohen's large collection of Seuss materials. Cohen's research is meticulous and carefully documented; more importantly, he discusses Geisel's life and times, the development of Dr. Seuss's images and ideas as well as his social conscience, in a readable and enjoyable style. Readers of all ages will enjoy this book. My son Gabe, who is just on the verge of becoming a reader, savored the fun pictures. History buffs will appreciate how social and cultural events and trends affected Dr. Seuss's work. This book is indeed the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth on Dr. Seuss.

P.S. There is also a fine biography of Dr. Seuss for younger readers (kindergarten through fourth grade): Dr. Seuss by Mae Woods. Those interested in Dr. Seuss's writing as literature (and Geisel is a fine poet, especially in his use of meter and innovative rhyme) should look at Dr. Seuss: American Icon by Philip Nel.

Vince Gotera, when not at his day job teaching at the University of Northern
Iowa, has read Dr. Seuss books to all of his five daughters and sons. Contact
him at OfBooksAndSuch@yahoo.com.
[No longer an active email address.]




A bit of history about the book-review column title: When I was a youth, my father Martin Avila Gotera had a journalistic commentary and miscellany column called "Of This and Such" in The Philippine News, a newspaper based in San Francisco and published by Alex Esclamado. As a tribute to my dad and his literary aspirations, I titled my own column with similar phrasing.

Okay, watch for future reprises of my "Of Books and Such" column in the blog. As I said above, books don't get stale, and if you go out and buy the books I reviewed back in 2004, you'll enjoy them just as much now as you would have when they were new.

Please, also, won't you comment below? I'd really love to know what you think. Thanks.

So . . . happy Dr. Seuss Month! Go put a stripey hat on your cat. Take good care, friends. Ingat.





13th floor elevators (1) 3d (1) 9/11 (3) a schneider (1) abecedarian (13) acrostic (6) adelaide crapsey (1) african american (1) aids (1) aisling (1) al robles (2) alberta turner (1) alex esclamado (1) alexander chen (1) alexander pushkin (1) alexandra bissell (1) alexandrines (4) alien (1) alliteration (3) alphabet (1) alphabet poem (2) altered books (1) altered pages (2) altered reality magazine (2) amanda blue gotera (7) amelia blue gotera (6) american gothic (1) american sonnet (1) amok (1) amy lowell (1) anacreon (1) anacreontics (1) anaphora (4) andre norton (1) andrea boltwood (19) andrew davidson (1) andrew marvell (1) andrew oldham (1) angelina jolie (1) angels (1) animation (1) anna montgomery (3) anne reynolds (1) annie e. existence (1) annie finch (1) anny ballardini (1) anti- (1) antonio taguba (2) aprille (1) art (7) arturo islas (1) ash wednesday (1) asian american (4) assonance (2) astronomy (2) aswang (13) aswang wars (1) atlanta rhythm section (1) axolotl (1) bakunawa (1) balato (1) ballad (2) barack obama (7) barbara jane reyes (1) barry a. morris (1) bass (2) bataan (5) becca andrea (1) beetle (2) belinda subraman (2) beowulf (1) best american poetry (1) beverly cassidy (1) bible (1) bill clinton (1) billy collins (2) blank verse (10) bob boynton (1) body farm (1) bolo (1) bongbong marcos (3) bop (1) brandt cotherman (1) brian brodeur (2) brian garrison (1) bruce johnson (1) bruce niedt (5) buddah moskowitz (2) buddy holly (1) burns stanza (1) callaloo (1) candida fajardo gotera (5) cardinal sin (1) carlos bulosan (1) carlos santana (2) carmina figurata (3) carolina matsumura gotera (1) caroline klocksiem (1) carrie arizona (3) carrieola (3) carriezona (1) catherine childress pritchard (1) catherine pritchard childress (37) catullus (1) cebu (1) cecilia manguerra brainard (1) cedar falls (6) cedar falls public library (1) cento (1) charles a hogan (2) ChatGPT (1) chess (1) childhood (1) children's poetry (1) China (1) chorus of glories (1) chris durietz (1) christmas (2) christopher smart (1) chuck pahlaniuk (1) cinquain (1) civil rights (1) clarean sonnet (2) clarice (1) classics iv (1) cleave hay(na)ku (2) clerihews (3) cliché (1) common meter (1) computers (1) concrete poem (1) concreteness (1) consonance (5) coolest month (1) cory aquino (2) couplet (5) couplet quatrains (2) crab (1) craft (5) creative nonfiction (1) crewrt-l (1) crucifixion (1) curtal sonnet (51) dactyls (2) daily palette (1) damián ortega (1) dan hartman (1) danielle filas (1) dante (5) dashiki (1) david foster wallace (1) david kopaska-merkel (1) david wojahn (1) de jackson (2) decasyllabics (4) denise duhamel (1) deviantART (3) dick powell (1) diction (1) didactic cinquain (1) dinosaur (2) disaster relief (1) divine comedy (1) dodecasyllables (1) doggerel (2) doggie diner (1) don johnson (1) donald trump (8) dr who (3) dr. seuss (1) draft (2) dragon (1) dragonfly (17) dreams & nightmares (1) drug addiction (1) drums (1) duplex (1) dusty springfield (1) dylan thomas (1) e e cummings (1) e-book (1) earth day (1) ebay (2) eclipse (5) ecopoetry (1) ed hill (1) edgar allan poe (2) edgar lee masters (1) edgar rice burroughs (1) editing (1) eeyore (1) eileen tabios (9) ekphrasis (3) ekphrastic poem (4) ekphrastic review (1) election (2) elegy (3) elevenie (1) elizabeth alexander (2) elizabeth bishop (2) elvis presley (1) emily dickinson (9) emma trelles (1) end-stop (3) english sonnet (1) englyn milwer (1) enita meadows (1) enjambed rhyme (1) enjambment (5) enola gay (1) envelope quatrain (1) environment (1) erasure poetry (9) erin mcreynolds (4) ernest lawrence thayer (1) exxon valdez oil spill (1) f. j. bergman (1) f. scott fitzgerald (1) facebook (3) family (4) fantasy (1) fashion (1) ferdinand magellan (1) ferdinand marcos (5) fib (3) fiction (3) fiera lingue (1) fighting kite (4) filipino (language) (1) filipino americans (6) filipino poetry (1) filipino veterans equity (3) filipinos (5) film (3) final thursday press (1) final thursday reading series (2) flannery o'connor (3) florence & the machine (1) flute (1) fortune cookie (1) found poem (1) found poetry (6) found poetry review (2) fourteeners (1) fox news (1) frank frazetta (1) frankenstein (1) franny choi (1) fred unwin (1) free verse (3) fructuosa gotera (1) fyodor dostoevsky (1) gabriel garcía márquez (1) gambling (1) garrett hongo (1) gary kelley (1) gawain (1) genre (1) george w. bush (1) gerard manley hopkins (13) ghazal (2) ghost wars (5) ghosts of a low moon (1) gogol bordello (1) golden shovel (5) goodreads (1) google (1) gotera (1) grace kelly (1) grant tracey (1) grant wood (4) grateful dead (1) greek mythology (1) gregory k pincus (1) grendel (1) griffin lit (1) grimm (1) grinnell college (2) growing up (1) growing up filipino (2) guest blogger (1) guillaume appolinaire (1) guitar (9) gulf war (1) gustave doré (3) guy de maupassant (1) gwendolyn brooks (4) gypsy art show (1) gypsy punk (1) hades (1) haggard hawks (1) haibun (4) haiga (1) haiku (29) haiku sonnet (3) hart crane (1) hawak kamay (1) hay(na)ku (23) hay(na)ku sonnet (13) header (1) hearst center for the arts (2) heirloom (1) herman melville (1) hey joe (1) hieronymus bosch (1) hiroshima (1) hiv here & now (1) homer (1) how a poem happens (2) humboldt state university (1) humor (1) hybrid sonnet (4) hymnal stanza (1) iain m. banks (1) iamb (1) iambic pentameter (1) ian parks (1) ibanez (1) imagery (1) imelda marcos (4) immigrants (1) imogen heap (1) indiana university (1) inigo online magazine (1) ink! (1) insect (2) insects (1) international hotel (1) international space station (1) interview (3) introduction (2) iowa (2) Iowa poet laureate (2) iran (1) iran-iraq war (1) irving levinson (1) italian bicycle (1) italian sonnet (2) ivania velez (2) j. d. schraffenberger (4) j. i. kleinberg (3) j. k. rowling (1) jack horner (2) jack kerouac (1) jack p nantell (1) james brown (1) james gorman (2) james joyce (1) jan d. hodges (1) japan (1) jasmine dreame wagner (1) jeanette winterson (1) jedediah dougherty (1) jedediah kurth (31) jennifer bullis (1) jesse graves (1) jessica hagedorn (1) jessica mchugh (2) jim daniels (1) jim hall (1) jim hiduke (1) jim o'loughlin (2) jim simmerman (3) jimi hendrix (3) jimmy fallon (1) joan osborne (1) joe mcnally (1) john barth (1) john charles lawrence (2) john clare (1) john donne (1) john gardner (1) john mccain (1) john prine (1) john welsh iii (2) joseph solo (1) josh hamzehee (1) joyce kilmer (1) justine wagner (1) kampilan (1) kathleen ann lawrence (1) kathy reichs (1) kay ryan (2) keith welsh (1) kelly cherry (1) kelly christiansen (1) kenning (1) kennings poem (3) killjoy (1) kim groninga (1) kimo (6) king arthur (1) king tut (1) knight fight (1) kumadre (1) kumpadre (1) kurt vonnegut (1) kyell gold (1) landays (1) lapu-lapu (1) lapwing publications (1) laurie kolp (2) leonardo da vinci (1) les paul (1) leslie kebschull (1) lester smith (1) library (1) library of congress (2) limerick (3) linda parsons marion (1) linda sue grimes (2) lineation (6) linked haiku (9) linked tanka (2) list poem (5) little brown brother (1) little free libraries (3) lorette c. luzajic (1) lost (tv) (1) louise glück (1) luis buñuel (1) lune (2) lydia lunch (1) machismo (1) magazines (1) mah jong (1) man ray (1) manananggal (2) manong (3) margaret atwood (2) maria fleuette deguzman (1) marianne moore (1) marilyn cavicchia (1) marilyn hacker (1) mark jarman (1) marriage (1) martin avila gotera (17) martin luther king jr. (1) marty gotera (5) marty mcgoey (1) mary ann blue gotera (8) mary biddinger (1) mary roberts rinehart award (1) mary shelley (1) matchbook (1) maura stanton (1) maureen thorson (386) maurice manning (1) meena rose (3) megan hippler (1) melanie villines (1) melanie wolfe (1) melina blue gotera (3) mental illness (1) metapoem (1) meter (7) mfa (2) michael heffernan (3) michael martone (2) michael ondaatje (1) michael shermer (2) michael spence (1) michelle obama (1) middle witch (1) minotaur (1) mirror northwest (1) misky (1) molossus (1) monkey (1) monorhyme (2) monostich (1) morel mushrooms (2) mueller report (1) multiverse (1) mushroom hunting (1) music (3) muslim (1) my custom writer blog (1) myth (1) mythology (3) nagasaki (1) naked blonde writer (1) naked girls reading (1) naked novelist (1) napowrimo (393) narrative (2) natalya st. clair (1) nathan dahlhauser (1) nathaniel hawthorne (1) national geographic (3) national poetry month (393) native american (1) neil gaiman (2) neoformalism (1) New Formalists (1) New York School (1) nick carbó (3) ninang (1) nonet (1) north american review (7) north american review blog (2) ode (1) of books and such (1) of this and such (1) onegin stanza (2) ottava rima (2) oulipo (1) oumumua (1) pablo picasso (2) pacific crossing (1) padre timoteo gotera (1) painting (1) palestinian american (1) palindrome (1) palinode (1) palmer hall (1) pantoum (2) paradelle (2) paranormal (1) parkersburg iowa (1) parody (6) parody poetry journal (1) parol (1) pastoral poetry (1) pat bertram (2) pat martin (1) paula berinstein (1) pause for the cause (2) pca/aca (1) peace (2) peace of mind band (1) pecan grove press (2) pepito gotera (1) percy bysshe shelley (2) performance poetry (1) persephone (1) persona poem (3) peter padua (1) petrarch (1) petrarchan sonnet (22) phil memmer (1) philip larkin (1) philippine news (1) philippine scouts (6) philippine-american war (1) philippines (8) phish (1) pinoy (1) pinoy poetics (1) pixie lott (1) podcast (1) podcasts (3) poem-a-day challenge (391) poetics (6) poetry (5) poetry imitation (1) poetry international (1) poetry palooza (1) poetry reading (4) poets against (the) war (2) pop culture (2) popcorn press (1) prejudice (1) presidio of san francisco (1) prime numbers (1) prime-sentence poem (1) prince (3) princess grace foundation (1) promotion (1) prose poem (7) proverbs (1) pterosaur (1) ptsd (2) puppini sisters (1) puptent poets (2) pushkin sonnet (2) pyrrhic (1) quatrain (4) quatrains (1) r.e.m. (1) rachel morgan (3) racism (1) rainer maria rilke (1) rap (1) rattle (1) ray fajardo (1) ray harryhausen (1) reggie lee (1) rembrandt (1) ren powell (1) reverse golden shovel (1) reviews (1) revision (1) rhyme (8) rhysling awards (4) rhythm (1) richard fay (1) richard hugo (1) rick griffin (1) rime (1) rippled mirror hay(na)ku (1) robert bly (1) robert frost (2) robert fulghum (1) robert j christenson (1) robert lee brewer (391) robert mezey (1) robert neville (1) robert zemeckis (1) rock and roll (2) roger zelazny (1) rolling stones (1) romanian (1) ron kowit (1) ronald wallace (2) rondeau (1) ross gay (1) roundelay (1) rubaiyat (1) rubaiyat sonnet (1) run-d.m.c. (1) saade mustafa (1) salt publishing (1) salvador dali (4) san francisco (8) sandra cisneros (1) santa claus (1) santana (1) sapphics (1) sarah deppe (1) sarah palin (1) sarah smith (26) satan (1) sayaka alessandra (1) schizophrenia (1) science fiction (2) science fiction poetry association (1) science friction (1) scifaiku (1) scott walker (1) screaming monkeys (1) scripture (1) sculpture (1) sea chantey (1) sena jeter naslund (1) senryu (5) sestina (9) sevenling (1) shadorma (2) shaindel beers (2) shakespeare (1) shakespearean sonnet (8) sharon olds (2) shawn wong (1) shiites or shia (1) shoreline of infinity (1) sidney bechet (1) sijo (2) skateboard (1) skeltonics (2) skylaar amann (1) slant rhyme (6) slide shows (1) small fires press (1) sniper (1) somersault abecedarian (1) somonka (1) sonnet (43) sonnetina (4) soul (1) southeast asian american (1) spanish (1) specificity (1) speculative poetry (1) spenserian stanza (1) spiraling abecedarian (1) spondee (1) spooky (1) sprung rhythm (1) st. patrick's day (1) stanford university (1) stanley meltzoff (1) stanza (1) stars and stripes (2) stereogram (1) steve hazlewood (1) steve mcqueen (1) stevie nicks (1) stone canoe (2) sue boynton (1) suite101 (2) sunflowers (1) surges (1) susan l. chast (1) syllabics (1) sylvia plath (2) synesthesia (1) syzygy poetry journal (2) t. m. sandrock (1) t. s. eliot (2) tamandua (1) tanka (25) tanka prose (4) tanka sequence (1) tanya tucker (1) tarzan (1) taylor swift (1) teaching creative writing (2) ted kooser (1) term paper mill (1) terrance hayes (2) terza rima (10) terza rima haiku sonnet (8) terzaiku sonnet (4) terzanelle (1) tetrameter (1) the byrds (1) the coolest month (1) the warning (1) the who (1) thomas alan holmes (215) thomas crofts (4) thomas faivre-duboz (1) thunderstorm (1) thurifer (1) tiger (1) tilly the laughing housewife (1) time travel (1) tom perrotta (1) tom petty (1) tom phillips (1) tone hønebø (1) toni morrison (2) tornado (1) total eclipse (4) translation (2) translitic (4) tribute in light (1) trickster (1) triolet (8) triskaidekaphobia (1) tritina (1) trochee (1) trope (1) tucson (1) typhoon haiyan (1) typhoon yolanda (1) university of northern iowa (6) unrhymed sonnet (2) us army (7) valentine's day (1) vampire (2) ven batista (29) verses typhoon yolanda (1) veterans' day (2) via dolorosa (1) video poetry (6) vietnam war (4) viktor vasnetsov (1) villanelle (3) vince del monte (1) vincent van gogh (1) virgil wren (1) virtual blog tour (1) visual poetry (3) vladimir putin (1) volkswagen (1) w. somerset maugham (1) walking dead (1) wallace stevens (3) walt mcdonald (1) walt whitman (4) war (7) war in afghanistan (2) war in iraq (2) wartburg college (1) waterloo (1) whypoetrymatters (1) wile e. coyote (1) wilfred owen (1) william blake (1) william carlos williams (1) william f tout (1) william gibson (1) william oandasan (1) william shakespeare (3) wind (1) winslow homer (1) winter (1) women's art (1) wooster review (1) wordy 30 (1) writing (1) writing away retreats (1) writing show (1) wwii (6) young adult (1) yusef komunyakaa (6) zone 3 (1)