Dr. Seuss The Cat In The Hat

Children’s Rhythm Throughout the world as many children learn to read the very first books they hold are picture books that are usually accompanied with a rhyming sentence or two below. Seeing a picture and then being able to connect it with words is a fundamental tool that allows for children to understand what they are reading at a young age. Many authors, some famous, have been able to capture the attention of young readers by making the words in their stories rhyme. Dr. Seuss wrote some of the most notable young children’s books that most if not all include some kind of rhyming pattern. In his book “The Cat in The Hat” Dr. Suess is able to use rhyming to reel in the attention of children and keep them engaged. Similarly, in “Falling Up”

Seuss is most notably known for his clever rhyming and his numerous children’s books. His most notable book that he wrote is “The Cat in The Hat”. Before writing his 13th book “The Cat in the Hat” the United States was going through a tough time. When the book was written in 1937 the US was at the tail end of the Great Depression and was soon to be involved in World War 2. During this time child were not reading and schools were not doing well. In response to this Dr. Seuss wanted to make kids happier when reading, “He wrote it in response to a perceived literacy crisis in the United States” (PBS.org). By using his use of rhyming and his short story poems he wanted to bring back kids into enjoying reading. Also this helped children to learn and read in an all-new perspective “Ultimately revolutionized the way American children learned to read” (PBS.org). His use of the rhymes made it easier for children to read the books and made it more fun for them. With the use of his rhyming we see how Dr. Seuss was able to paint a picture for kids making it easier to understand and how it makes it fun for them to read “We looked! Then we saw him step in on the mat! We looked! And we saw him! The Cat in the Hat! And he said to us, “Why do you sit there like that?” (Seuss). This is just one example of how he was able to capture his audience an almost absurd image of a cat wearing a hat detailed with a rhyming pattern and painting a very detailed visual. Most of the work done by Dr.

Silverstein was an avid poet and musician before moving on to writing children’s literature. Similar to that of Dr. Seuss he wrote many children’s books such as the popular “The giving Tree”. His use of rhythm was adapted from his ability to write music and it was able to set him apart from others, “it was always his work as an author of children's books that set him apart” (bio.com). Since he was a musician it sets him apart from others in the sense that he was good a writing lyrics with rhythm which he was easily about to transfer over to his poetry in children’s literature. In his book “Falling up” he wrote about many different topics about events someone may face in their lifetime. One poem from his book is about snowball, “I made myself a snowball, as perfect as could be. I thought I’d keep it as a pet and let it sleep with me. I made it some pajamas and a pillow for its head. Then last night it ran away, but first it wet the bed”. (Silverstein). As Silverstein tells his story he leaves it upon to interpretation. The snowball could be an actual snowball or the snowball could be a friend that the main character in the person is with. Personally, I believe the poem to be about someone that