Dr. Seuss - The Book Benefits and the Musical

Courtesy of Repertory Philippines

Don’t you just love the classic Dr. Seuss books?  My children and I do.  We have a collection of these all-time children’s favorite classic books by Mr. Theodore Seuss Geisel, better known as the beloved Dr. Seuss.  The nonsense rhymes and repetitive words combine sentences that just make the tongue roll off, not to mention the use of some weird-looking characters and weird-sounding names, are the unique mark of Dr. Seuss that both adults and children alike love.  But do you know that reading Dr. Seuss books also provide some substantial benefits in developing your child’s language skills?

Not only the Dr. Seuss books continue to delight young children with its colorful pictures and rhymes, but these books are great to share to young children as well who are learning how to read.  I personally enjoy reading aloud to my little children these books while pointing my index finger to each and every word in the story as I read it to them.  I believe this will help prepare the way for them to learn how to read easily and naturally.

I believe the rhymes and repetitive words in most Dr. Seuss beginner books also help not only in developing the young child’s reading skill but also his or her speech ability when he or she learns how to read.  Dr. Seuss books also use a variety of words that help the young child widen his or her vocabulary.

By frequently reading aloud to your young children books like Dr. Seuss, you are helping to develop their phonological awareness.  Phonological awareness develops naturally if you read to your child often starting from an early age.  If those reading experiences have been fun and exciting for your child, he or she will learn to read naturally and easily without much effort in formal teaching.  This might be hard to believe but its true!  I’ve seen it happen with my own children.  I was just amazed!

I guess it’s the magic of frequently reading aloud and the Dr. Seuss books play an important role in it.

Our Dr. Seuss book collection

And speaking about Dr. Seuss, Repertory Philippines, the Philippines’ premier Theater Company, is staging one of the most performed musical shows in America, “Seussical”, in its home stage in OnStage, Greenbelt 1, Makati City, from August to December of this year.  “Seussical” is a fantastical, magical, musical extravaganza that brings to life the characters from the popular Dr. Seuss books, including Horton the Elephant, Gertrude McFuzz, Lazy Mayzie and Jojo, the little boy with a big imagination.  You may check out Repertory Philippines’ website for more details regarding “Seussical”.

I hope my family and I can watch this exciting musical.  We still have ‘til December to catch this show. ;-)