When I was a kid my face was quite round.
My legs were quite stubby.
My glasses were brown.
I had crooked teeth and a nose
that was just off a tad,
hair that was greasy
and skin just as bad.

But I loved to read books,
books both big and quite small.
Books about everything –
It didn’t matter at all.
I’d read and I’d read
Until my eyes grew sandy and sore,
And if it weren’t for my bedtime
I would have read more!

With books I could travel
and by traveling explore
all sorts of places no one else
had ever been to before.
Places where a cat wore a hat on his head,
Where fish came in not just blue but also in red,
Where an elephant listened to Whos with his great ears.
Oh, I had fun reading in those first wonderful years!

With a few years under my belt
I learned — thanks to reading —
That others had felt what I’d felt,
And might still feel what I was feeling.
I’d learned it’s okay to be round,
Or narrow or square,
Or if I had glasses or pimples
Or teeth that went everywhichwhere.

What mattered was what was inside of me:
Was I being the very best me I could be?
Would I listen for Whos
No matter what others believed?
What mattered was caring
Because if I wouldn’t then who?
And caring, I came to understand,
Is sometimes quite hard to do.

But once I did care
I needed to care as much as I could,
Because if I didn’t, well, then,
Whoelse ever would?
Life was not always easy,
Although no one ever said it would be.
But as long as I kept trying
Success was “98 and ¾ percent guaranteed!”

That’s something amazing
If you really give it some thought:
Things may not turn out as you want them
But they’ll turn out just as they ought.
Growing up is all about understanding
something else along with that fact:
Life really is, indeed,
A great Balancing act.

And later, much later, I’d snuggle at night
With one child on my left and one on my right.
I’d read to them both about places they’d go
and things they would think.
I’d read very softly
And I’d read very slow.
A strange thing would happen
as I read books to my girl and my boy:
what was magical in my own childhood
now brought them great joy.

They’d ask me, “Please, Mom!
Please read more to us.”
And if I refused?
Well, they’d cause quite a fuss.
Not that I’d do that.
Oh, no, surely not I.
But sometimes now and then
I’d get choked up and cry.

I knew then and know now
what they will one day understand, too:
Dr. Seuss, if I’m a book lover,
It’s all thanks to you.

March 2 is Dr. Seuss’s birthday. Have you hugged a book today?