We all read (well most of us) Green Eggs and Ham, One Fish Two Fish when we were children. I even visited Universal Studios last year with my family, and explored Seuss Landing in the fantastical, over the top, plastic, shiny theme park area with wonky characters and bent trees, and actual green eggs and ham as a menu item at one the park’s concession stands. Childhood memories associated with Dr. Seuss are magical and fun…but a bit far removed for many people.

I recently dusted off some old books that were mine as a child, and I felt through the words were speaking to me in a new, adult focused, a relevant voice that I had never heard from Suess before. We all know the Grinch hated Christmas…(or did he really have social anxiety and hatred of a superfluous holiday centered around greed and decorations).

We all know The Lorax wanted to save the trees (or is it a book commenting on the LOT of environmental problems…because there is much more to saving the planet than saving the trees…although you gotta start somewhere)…all of us Seuss fans have recently (well, in 2015) been blessed with the newly published What Pet Should I Get, a children’s book found in the archives of the late Theodor Seuss Geisel…but have we thought about the political implications of the this text?

The concept is so simple…is it not? A young brother and sister have the opportunity and choice to pick ONE pet…every child’s dream! Right? Maybe…but every forward-thinking adult’s nightmare. I’d argue that this children’s book highlights a bigger problem…the idea that one kind (of person, race, gender, religion, music genre, political view, etc) must be chosen and held in higher esteem above the rest, when there are so many options.

Dr. Suess may have rhymed his words, made up his own terms, and illustrated in dripping, oozing, pastel colors, but his voice extends to all ages and stages of life, if only the reader is willing to situate their mind in a way that celebrates both being young at heart, and wise in the head. Here are some Dr. Suess quotes for the old in years and the young at heart:

1. Oh, The Places You’ll Go, Dr. Seuss

" You can get so confused that you’ll start into the race down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space, headed, I fear, toward a most useless space. The Waiting Place……for people just waiting. Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or a place to go, or the mail to come, or the rain to go, or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow, or waiting around for a Yes or No, or waiting for their hair to grow, everyone is just waiting. Waiting for the fish to bite, or waiting for wind to fly a kite, or waiting around for Friday night, or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake..."

2. The Lorax, Dr. Seuss

“I meant no harm. I most truly did not. But I had to grow bigger. So bigger I got. I biggered my factory. I biggered my roads. I biggered my wagons. I biggered the loads of the Thneeds I shipped out. I was shipping them forth to the South! To the East! To the West! To the North! I went right on biggering…selling more thneeds. And I biggered my money, which everyone needs…[But] that was long, long ago.But each day since that day, I’ve sat here and worried and worried away. Through the years, while my buildings have fallen apart, I’ve worried about it with all of my heart. But now, now that you’re here, the word of the Lorax seems perfectly clear, UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

3. What Pet Should I Get?, Dr. Seuss

“And I could have done it. I could have, I bet. I could have said what pet we should get…THEN…I saw a new kind! And they were good, too! How could I pick one? Now what should we do? We could only pick one. That is what my dad said. But how could I make up my mind in my head?”

4. Oh, the Places You’ll Go, Dr. Seuss

“There is fun to be done! There are points to be scored. There are games to be won. And the magical things you can do with that ball will make you the winning-est winner of all. Fame! You’ll be famous as famous can be, with the whole wide world watching you win on TV. Except when they don’t. Because, sometimes, they won’t. I’m afraid that sometimes you’ll play lonely games too. Games you can’t win, ‘cause you’ll play against you.”

5. Oh, the Places You’ll Go, Dr. Seuss

“You’ll get mixed up, of course, as you already know. You’ll get mixed up with many strange birds as you go. So be sure when you step. Step with care and great tact and remember that Life’s a Great Balancing Act. Just never forget to be dexterous and deft. And never mix up your right foot with your left.”

6. How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Dr. Seuss

“ And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow, Stood puzzling and puzzling: "How could it be so?"It came without ribbons! It came without tags!"It came without packages, boxes or bags!"Then he puzzled three hours, till his puzzler was sore.”