Dr. Seuss’ Influence on Children’s Literature
Most people know that on March 2, 1998 marked the largest celebration of reading the country has ever seen. This day indicates the 20th anniversary of Read Across America in dedication to Dr. Seuss. The purpose of this day is to motivate children to read. As a result this day encourages children’s achievements throughout school. Read across America day is on Dr. Seuss’ birthday because he is the most beloved children’s author known. Many people celebrate this event like children's, librarians, authors, and schools nation wide. Furthermore, Dr. Seuss changed children's literature by rhyming, and grabbing the attention of many young readers by adding illustrations that are bold.
The literary time periods have continued to change overtime drastically throughout the years. To begin in the mid-1700s the focus on children's literature was to “teach letter sounds and words or to improve the child's moral and spiritual life” (Medina n. pag.). Recently many major changes have been established around the twentieth century with the development of picture books. Before Dr. Seuss the children books would portray the way an ideal child should act: How they should dress properly, speak, and what manners they should carry. Dr. Seuss changed all that by writing how an
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These illustrations would maintain the attention of many young readers contributing to his success(Figure 1). It would also shape their imagination connecting to the moral of the story: according to Schwab, a children’s literature expert he illustrated forty four books in his life, “Seuss’ illustrations convey a sense of movement and anticipation, [h]is loose style, curvy lines and use of whitespace engage the reader’s imagination. You can’t wait to turn the page to see what happens next.”(Porter n. pag.). Another main factor towards his writing was the influential people in his