"Oh, the places you'll go!"

My favorite Dr. Seuss book - hands down.  I purchased it about 10 years ago for myself, when I worked at that bookstore in Germany.  That's how much I like it.  That and "Where the wild things are" but we will leave that subject for another time.  "Oh, the places you'll go!"...


I read it this morning to Sofia Carolina for the first time.  I suspect we will be reading it a lot, until we can both recite it.  The only flaw is that it always refers to the "guy" as they did back in the day.  Apparently only boys were going places. 
     "You have brains in your head.
     You have feet in your shoes.
     You can steer yourself
     any direction you choose.
     You're on your own.  And you know what you know.
     And YOU are the guy [or gal] who'll decide where to go."

What a great book.  What a great message. Have you read it? How long has it been since you read it?  How long has it been since you read any children's books?  I know, I know.  I wouldn't be reading many children's books if not for Sofia.  BUT, I have had this one for a decade because it means a lot to me.  It gets me thinking.  I don't know how often I read Dr. Seuss as a child.  I know I read a lot.  I was after all a little geek in glasses.  But it gets me wondering how much of this message I might have internalized at a subconscious level.  All the places I've gone, was I thinking at a deeper level "With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet, you're too good to go down any not-so-good street."?  I guess we'll never know.  But I think about this whenever I choose a book to read to my child.  I think about this whenever I see Michael reading Sofia some quartely report from some company he is researching to invest in.  She really is soothed, even when colicky, by the sound of us reading to her.  I suspect the phone book will do, but why not make it Robert Frost? (which Michael has in the car for "reading" emergencies).

I wanted to blog about this book because it occurs to me that many of us are in "The Waiting Place" and need to get out.  I mean, we all are at some time or another, but like the Dr. says "NO! That's not for you!".

OK, you just have to read the book.  It takes less than 10 minutes.  If you just want to read the text, go to this place:
http://www.teamhope.com/seuss.htm

There are many creative sites to read it on, here's one that reads it to you you lazy bum:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQRWeZy-S8Q


I could tell Sofia was riveted by the story.  Her little 5 week brain imagining the places she will see, the trips, the fun, the adventures...OK, so she fell asleep.  What do you want from her?  The point is the mesage is floating somewhere in her pretty little brain "Your mountain is waiting. So...get on your way!"