My three year old loves Dr. Seuss books. This morning we were reading “Oh Baby, The Places You’ll Go” which is a compilation of snippets from various Dr. Seuss books, not written by Dr. Seuss but sanctioned by his wife after his death. My son realized that many of his favorite books were written by the same person – this Dr. Seuss. First, he asked if Dr. Seuss was a real doctor or just one like me (PhD). My son then said he should write a thank you note to Dr. Seuss. My son then drew a thank you note for Dr. Seuss and wrote “thanks” and then his name. He wants to mail it to Dr. Seuss – I have not told him that Dr. Seuss is dead. It made me realize how much I have enjoyed Dr. Seuss books over the years. What is your favorite Dr. Seuss book? Why? Have you found any Gospel Principles outlined in them?

I think my three favorites are “Horton hears a who”, “The Lorax”, and “The Sneetches”. Each of these books speaks to a different theme that I really appreciate. Horton’s refrain that “a person’s a person no matter how small” rings true to me. I also appreciated Horton’s concern for those who could not protect themselves (I always want to fight for the underdog). In my mind, this is one of Christ’s important teachings for each of us. The Lorax speaks to the environment and how greed can destroy so much beauty, with so little return. Again, this is very much in line with Christ’s teachings of our stewardship over the earth. Finally, I love the Sneetches as their quest to be different from others and segregate themselves is something we, as a society, continue to do. We, as Mormons, are segregated from society, partially by behavior and partially by choice – the old “in the world, but not of the world” adage. In summary, I think that we can each learn a lot from Dr. Seuss’ books, and, to top it off, they are just plain fun. Thanks Dr. Seuss!