Did you know that The Cat in the Hat was written in 1954 using the reading vocabulary of the average 6-7 year old?
It was mainly written in an attempt to create something interesting for children that might attract them to read.
Theodor Geisel – aka Dr. Seuss – was supplied with a list of 348 words – he used 238 words (13 not on the list). And he definitely succeeded in the interesting part.
Just in case that wasn’t good enough – four years later in 1960, Theodor Geisel wrote a book using only 50 words –
a, am, and, anywhere, are, be, boat, box, car, could, dark, do, eat, eggs, fox, goat, good, green, ham, here, house, I, if, in, let, like, may, me, mouse, not, on, or, rain, Sam, say, see, so, thank, that, the, them, there, they, train, tree, try, will, with, would, you.
I’m sure you’ve recognised Green Eggs and Ham from that list. It is still one of the best selling children’s books of all time.
This may not seem much like the FUNDAEC rural university* at first glance but it uses the same logic. Rather than forcing people to meet the needs of the existing systems, it had a go at adapting the systems (in this case reading systems) to better fulfill the needs.
Clever Dr. Seuss…
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*https://creatingreciprocity.wordpress.com/2011/12/10/3501/
Related articles
- Theodore Geisel, My Dad, & Me (musingsbykit.wordpress.com)
- A Cat In A Hat To Play Theodore Geisel (thinkprogress.org)
- Rarely Seen Dr. Seuss Works Go On Display (huffingtonpost.com)
- Depp tries on Dr Seuss’s hat for biopic (guardian.co.uk)
Green Eggs and Ham is a brilliant book. Dr. Seuss was a brilliant man . . . and FUN!
Unequivocal agreement on that!
Dr. Seuss understood that the heart of a child held so much room for the type of wisdom that would last that child a lifetime. Dr. Seuss sure knew how to get rid of the clutter of adult lives, just as those working with rural universities know how to get rid of the clutter of industrialization, etc.
Excellent comparison, thanks.
I grew up with Dr. Seuss books; ditto my kids. He was the best. 🙂