One Fish, Two Fish

One Fish, Two Fish

I still have all my childhood Dr. Seuss books.  My mother read me those early classics, McElligot’s Pool, Bartholomew and the Oobleck. But Cat in the Hat and One Fish, Two Fish I could read myself.

See these cool Dr. Seuss’s posters for World Oceans Day 2010?  Makes sense that the man who brought us so many weird animals would love the ocean, with all its weird critters.  (2010 was also the 50th anniversary of One Fish, Two Fish.)

World Oceans Day is June 8 - only two weeks away! Check out worldoceansday.org. for this year’s cool poster, an event near you, resources.  How will you celebrate?

I reread One Fish, Two Fish this week.  Remember the refrain, which is really the theme song of all Seuss?

“From there to here,
from here to there,
funny things
are everywhere.”

Dr. Seuss taught me to love reading and to love counting.  So I want to thank him, for (at least) five ways he teaches us how to love the ocean.  Can you think of more?

1) He celebrates diversity: one, two, red, blue, black, blue, old, new, sad, glad, thin, fat – this one has a yellow hat!  (So many other tales of diversity.  The Sneetches!)

2) He loves to list and count.  The Association of Zoos and Aquariums used Seuss for their great resource: “1, 2, 3 and the Seas: Counting on You: Children of all ages will discover the importance of inventorying different species through activities using numbers and identification skills. Kids will apply the concept of counting to gauge the health of our oceans and to monitor the impact of disasters such as the Gulf oil spill.”  Our Blue Theology youth groups do lists and counting when we do citizen science research on sand crabs and climate change.

3) He makes the littlest ones the heroes.   Small fish can make a whale of a difference.  “A person’s a person no matter how small.”

4) He has taught millions of kids how to read.  Reading about the ocean helps us love it more.  (Want to be even more literate?  Check out the 7 basic principles of ocean literacy at oceanliteracy.net.)

5) He always said that most important thing for everyone is to have fun!  From here to there, funny things are everywhere.  It’s hard not to have fun at the ocean.

Oh yeah, one more, I like his attitude about presenting important issues to kids:

“Geisel made a point of not beginning to write his stories with a moral in mind, stating that ‘kids can see a moral coming a mile off.’ He was not against writing about issues, however.  He said that ‘there's an inherent moral in any story’ and he remarked that he was ‘subversive as hell.’”

Thanks, Dr. Seuss.  Just what the doctor ordered!

(We are still booking summer and fall Blue Theology youth mission trips and adult pilgrimages.  Bluetheology.com)