Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss: Day 1

In honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday, we're celebrating him and his books every day this week. Today, we read The Sneeches and Other Stories.

This book contains four stories...

• The Sneeches
• The Zax
• Too Many Daves
• What Was I Scared Of?

We read all of them except for Too Many Daves. It's not one that I particularly like and I thought my 4 year old would get lost in the story of why a mom would name all 23 of her sons Dave. I can imagine the questions!!!

The Sneeches is a story that address issues like trying to fit in and appreciating differences in others. We had fantastic conversations about similarities and differences in people. The story has two sets of characters those with stars on their bellies and those without.

We went to the craft store with Grandma and bought supplies to make a craft inspired by the story. My daughter picked buttons, ribbon, and a wooden star. She made the star above with her grandma since the little guy fell asleep and needed Mommy with him. Now whenever we look at it, we're reminded that everyone is different and that's what makes us special.

She really enjoyed The Zax. This is a story about two stubborn individuals who wouldn't budge. Here is the picture we liked most from the story...

The two Zax were so stubborn that a whole roadway was built around them and they still wouldn't budge. This story illustrates stubbornness very well. It's a silly story with a lesson behind it. When asked what the Zax should have done instead, she thought they should have stepped aside and then drawn a picture to make each other feel better. Here's the picture that she drew to give the Zax...

Butterflies, sunshine and a rainbow... yep, those would brighten my day if I were a stubborn Zax!

The final story we read was What Was I Scared Of? This book is a silly story about a character who is afraid of a pair of pants and in the end, he learns that the pants are afraid of him too. We talked about fear and what she's afraid of. We talked about silly fears. We talked about ways to overcome her fears.

It's amazing how a silly book about Sneeches and Zax and scaredy pants can lead to such important conversations.