Dr. Seuss and Imagination

Dr. Seuss is one of the most well known children’s books writers of all time. His unrealistic but imaginative drawings can be noticed anywhere and his rhymes can even stick with people through adulthood. Children ask for these books over and over again, until they can “read” the book by themselves. They memorize the rhymes and stare at the pictures until they are ingrained into their minds. Dr. Seuss books are a good way for children to open up their imagination and learn through their imagination.

According to Dr. Howard Gardner, there are multiple ways for children to learn, or anybody for that matter. There are eight different intelligences in the brain and one or two of them are the most prominent while people are working or learning. For example, if someone absent-mindedly taps on the table while listening to a lecture, they most likely have a prominent Musical Intelligence. Or if someone would rather look at charts than reading directions to learn something, they would most likely have a prominent Spatial Intelligence. A child might need a teacher to tell them exactly what to do rather than watch how to do it. This child would most likely have a Linguistic intelligence. Dr. Seuss books can play up to Spatial, Musical and Linguistic Intelligences which would all help the child learn better in a classroom when the teacher lets their imaginations run wild. These intelligences focus in on the rhymes and the illustrations that are in Dr. Seuss books. Overall these three intelligences are in everybody and so when they are more prominent, Dr. Seuss’ books will help the children’s imaginations loose and they can learn better using their intelligences.

Dr. Seuss’ books help children’s imaginations open up with his rhymes because he makes new words that kids haven’t heard before to make rhymes work. Rhymes also help a child learn phonics and reading skills. (https://suite.io/karen-whiting/3wc22bm) With Dr. Seuss, books children are learning how to form sounds in their mouths and they are learning when to use these sounds in a sentence. For example, when someone asks a question, the end of the sentence usually gets a little bit higher than the rest of the sentence. Without this subtle lift, questions would sound so different. Children learn by saying rhymes or listening to rhymes that when someone asks a question, their voice goes up. All of this is important to children, especially when someone reads out loud to them from a Dr. Seuss book, their little brains will have so much new information and so much to copy and learn from. They will learn how to imagine different places and things with the words that Dr. Seuss gives them and with these hard words, they can also learn how different letters make different sounds.

Illustrations in other picture books are usually meant to provide setting and characters to the story. Dr. Seuss’ books do that as well but these illustrations let the child think of something out of this world because the illustrations are so unrealistic and nothing like the world that the child knows. For example, in The Lorax, the setting is similar to the real world but there are trees with tufts of hair on the tops and the Lorax looks like a naked toe with a large mustache. Children have such great imagination that they don’t see a naked toe but a trustworthy man and a great place to live. Illustrations can also relate all of their imagination back to words in the book. According to RIF (Reading is Fundamental), which is a literacy non-profit based in America that gives children the chance to read and learn, children use illustrations to help them understand the meaning of a word when they don’t know. For example if the book says that a Lorax is sitting in a tree and the child doesn’t know what a Lorax is, they immediately look over at the picture to find the creature that sits in the tree. Pictures are often dismissed from books as the reader matures but they are still important in every book, for every reader to imagine a new world.

Dr. Seuss’ books were popular when they came out because of the wild illustrations and because of the crazy names he gave his characters. Children today still read his books as a way for their imagination to run free but also to learn about phonetics and important reading skills. Adults still remember rhymes from his books and illustrations, picking out “Dr. Seuss trees” in different landscapes. Dr. Seuss can now be named a teacher because every child who reads or looks at his books, is learning from the best.

Works Cited:

https://www.earlymoments.com/Promoting-Literacy-and-a-Love-of-Reading/Why-Reading-to-Children-is-Important/

"10 Reasons Why You Should Read to Your Kids." Early Moments. Sandivk Publishing, n.d. Web. 19 Sept. 2014

http://school.familyeducation.com/multiple-intelligences/learning-style/linguistics/66376.html?detoured=1

"Learning Style: Linguistic." Linguistic Gifts and Talents. Pearson Education, n.d. Web. 19 Sept. 2014.

http://www.nea.org/grants/facts-about-childrens-literacy.html

"Facts about Children's Literacy." Rss. National Education Association, n.d. Web. 19 Sept. 2014.

http://www.rif.org/us/literacy-resources/articles/getting-the-most-out-of-picture-books.htm

"Getting the Most Out of Picture Books." Reading Is Fundamental. Reading Is Fundamental, n.d. Web. 19 Sept. 2014.

https://suite.io/karen-whiting/3wc22bm

Whiting, Karen. "How Rhymes Help Children Learn." Suite. N.p., 10 July 2010. Web. 22 Sept. 2014.