Links to Resources 

• Take a trip to Seussville, the official site for all things Seuss.
• Lesson Planet has compiled a terrific list of activities from poetry and grammar to eating green eggs and ham.
• HaveFunTeaching has put together a reader’s theater script (PDF).
• EFL teachers can try this Green Eggs and Ham Resource Pack (PDF) by Bryan Boyd, complete with flashcards, picture/word cards, and game board.
• Help kids make and eat their own green eggs and ham. Here’s a healthy version and a candy version.

The Movie Musical Version

Why I Like This Book: As a terribly picky eater who drove her mother crazy (nothing from the sea, nothing with eyes, nothing still in the shape it had when it was alive, nothing that requires a mallet to eat, nothing with nuts in it), I can relate to the poor guy in the hat and to the relentless Sam-I-am who just doesn’t want his friend to miss out on a good thing. Besides the rollicking pace and genius rhyme that mark all of Seuss’s books, Green Eggs and Ham is a silly and gentle lesson about trying new things before forming an opinion about them. But I still don’t want nuts in my brownies.

You can find the entire list of recommended picture books on Susanna Hill Leonard’s Perfect Picture Books page on her blog.

See more picture books in my picture book library.

[heading style=”1″]Featured Kidlit Blogger ~ Eric Van Raepenbusch[/heading]

What’s Up with Eric

Eric, who are you, where are you, and how many little Whos do you currently have in Whoville? 
I’m Eric Van Raepenbusch, a stay-at-home dad, former teacher, blogger, and reader-alouder extraordinaire from Ohio, USA. I left teaching back in 2005 to become a stay-at-home dad for my daughter. Every couple of years I have been lucky enough to get a contract extension – and by that I mean blessed with another child. Currently, besides my girl Who, I have two boy Whos who are “my dudes!” (Who dudes?) I say currently, because we are expecting our fourth little Who very soon!

Who-hoo!

This week on your blog, you are celebrating the great Dr. Seuss. What’s your favorite Seuss story?
My favorite Seuss story is If I Ran the Circus, a book he dedicated to his father and that includes my favorite Seuss character, Mr. Sneelock. Another favorite is I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!, which had my daughter belly laughing before she was even two.

Have you personally ever heard a Who?
Have I heard a Who? No, have you? (That’s all the rhyming you’ll hear from me!)

Sadly, I have not. (At least, not a lot.) Where did you get the idea for Happy Birthday Author? How many authors have you celebrated so far? Did you make them cake with cheese? Did you make them eat their peas? 
I started celebrating children’s authors’ birthdays when I was an elementary special education teacher. My students were the children who struggled with all aspects of school. My job was to teach them to read, write, and spell, but since I was given no curriculum to follow, I made up all my own lessons. One day I received an author birthday calendar from Scholastic, and it inspired me to incorporate picture books into those lessons.

A few years later, I celebrated Kate McMullan’s birthday with my kids, and that’s when Happy Birthday Author became about creating memorable reading experiences for my children. My son and I made a cake designed like the garbage truck in McMullan’s I Stink, an activity that made me realize that celebrating author birthdays with my children could be fun!

To date we’ve celebrated 129 authors with over 50 of them contributing to the blog posts with their own birthday memories. Also, my son and I kept up the tradition by making our third Kate McMullan birthday cake this year!

I’m thoroughly in awe of the detailed book extension activities you do with your kids. Where do you get all these ideas…and time? Would you, could you, tell me how? Would you, could you, tell me now?
The best way to explain how I get my ideas is that I just let it happen. I choose an author, go to multiple libraries to get as many of the author’s books as I can, and then I read them all to my kids. As I read, I think about ways to bring the books to life – to give my children an experience. Recently, we celebrated Caldecott recipient Gerald McDermott’s birthday, and my son got super excited about Jabuti the Tortoise: A Trickster Tale from the Amazon. He loved that the tortoise played the flute, so I thought, “Let’s make a flute!” A little Google and a little PVC pipe later, I had found the way to bring the book to life.

The blog has become an important part of our family. We are constantly going to the library and reading books together. The activities take some planning, but it is something I look forward to doing with them during the day. I write the blog, while drinking lots of coffee, after they go to bed. I have joked that the blog keeps me sane. In a way, it is true!

What do you do when you’re not slunk-slinking like a Grinch or stalking the elusive Twiddler-Headed Crow?
I like to try new things. Recently, I am into gardening and writing my own children’s books. I am really excited to try my hand at beekeeping this spring!

Of course you are! Can we come visit you and see all the cool stuff you do with your kids? (Online, of course. It’s not like we’ll be peeking through your windows. That would be creepy. We would not do that, Eric V. We would not do that, nosiree!)
Sure! You can visit my blog, Happy Birthday Author, at www.happybirthdayauthor.com, where you’ll find lots of fun activities and pictures of me slithering on the floor. You can also keep track of our author birthday celebrations via Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and Pinterest.

Thank you, Renée, for having me on No Water River! I am very appreciative.

We will not slack now, Eric V.
We will not slack now, wait and see!
We will not slack now in the house.
We will not slack now with a mouse.
We will not slack nor here nor there.
We will not slack more anywhere!