Kaylee+Woodman+Speech+09

I have been thinking for awhile about what I should do, for the Woodmen Speech Contest is coming real soon. I "Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the things you can think up if only you try!" Ah, this is the one person, it most certainly is, if only I could think of his very first name. As I show my dimples, it's really quite simple. As I may have misled you, don't worry too much, for his name is Ted Geisel JR, not too little, not too much. Now I may not have rung a bell in everyone's brain but, " Just tell yourself duckie, you're really quite lucky" to know such things as you do, for his name is Dr. Seuss. Now my timin gis wrong, I'm no Dr. Suess, so I should probably stop rhyming, I shouldn't have even thought that I could. However, I **DO** think Dr. Seuss is certainly a person who has touched many lives.

Now to get going on my story, I'll begin with his childhood. He was always thought to be a "different" child. He never really fit in. His father, Theodore Geisel, was the superintendent of their town's zoo. Then his mother, Henrietta __SEUSS__ Geisel, was a stay-at- home mom. Both of his parents were immigrants from Germany, and to top it off, events were happening in Europe, which were causing great anger in America. One great thing about Mrs. Geisel: her life long dream was for her children to go to college. But Ted absolutely HATED school! He just couldn't pay attention. Most of the time the teachers would find him doodling in his notebooks, and the animals and figures that he made were complete nonsense. One of his past times was just to sit at his father's zoo and draw the animals that he saw. Well, he must have needed glasses, for he drew a fox with 10 legs and a cow that could fly!!! Well that cow is what in his college years made him decide what he really wanted to do, but that is a story itself, which is my next topic to tell.

He had made it to Dartmouth College and his mother was **__SO__** proud. He still had great faith in his art work as it developed over the years, but everyone else around him thought they were foolish and just plain stupid. But that all changed one day when a girl, Helen Palmer, came along. She was a person that he had a huge crush on. She leaned over his shoulder and whispered, "That's a really good flying cow." As I had mentioned before, that's how he decided he wanted to become an artist and author. All that he needed was a little support.

Soon after he graduated, he started to try to publish one of his stories, "To Think I Saw it on Mulberry Street" He was turned away by 27 publishers. Then finally a old friend from college took in his story and published it. The reviews were GREAT. THey wanted more and that's just what he was going to give them.

He was a pretty well known children's author by then, and he need to create more books. That wasn't that hard for him. He got them from simple ideas. The 500 Hats of Bartholimue Cubbins was thought up when he saw a man with a scarlet hat. But then publishers were giving him challenges. Cat in the Hat was from a challenge to write a story using all of the words that a kindergartener needed to learn to read by the end of the year. Green Eggs and Ham was from a challenge to write a story with only 50 words.

With every one one of his stories I have discovered a meaning. I used to just read them and laugh at every page, but look a little farther and you will see it. One example is The Lorax, written to express Seuss's anger towards pollution. Many of his books were written just to challenge the respect toward authority.

Upon Ted's death on September 24, 1991 at age 87, he had written 44 books in his life. After he died, he dedicated all of his money to libraries, art museums, scholarship funds, and of course ZOOS.

Now after I have gone over his life his subjects for stories all make sense. He drew pictures of odd animals at his father's zoo, his mother lulled him to sleep with nonsense rhyming words, and he was really different from the other kids his age. Those things stuck with him all of his life and helped him become this great person who touched many lives. Now I know right now it probably seems to some of you that he was not a great person in history. But then think back when you were really little. What was one of your favorite books that your mom or dad read to you every night? I'll bet it was a Dr. Seuss book! I know mine, __One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish__. I remembered every line of it. But the point is, he was the person who brought a lot of smiles in my life and probably a lot in yours. I learned how to read at an earlier age and a lot of my teaching came from Dr. Seuss books. I never really thought that I was learning to read, I just thought it was silly and fun. So now when I think of Dr. Suess, I think of Theodore Geisel Jr. It's amazing what you can learn in a few short minutes. And now I will end my story with the last few sentences of my favorite book, __One fish two fish red fish blue fish:__ Today is done. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one. Every day, from here to there, funny things are everywhere. Dr. Seuss: a trully great person, who has touched **MANY** lives.