Dr. Seuss Books for Your Kid's Bookshelf

When I worked as a preschool teacher, we celebrated a lot of special holidays throughout the school year; however, one holiday always stood out to me and it's stayed with me ever since.

At the beginning of March, we would celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday and we would go all out! His birthday is March 2nd and has now been deemed "National Dr. Seuss Day" celebrating his birthday at the preschool meant that we had wacky tacky day, made Truffula Tress for artwork, and read a bunch of the books he wrote. I would switch our our seasonal book nook from Valentine/Winter and fill it with the Dr. Seuss books we had in the school.

This was so much fun for me and like I said, it's something that's always stuck with me so now I try to incorporate a few of these little things at home with my boys.

So just before the start of March, I switch over the books and bring out all of our beloved Dr. Seuss books! I know he had so many famous books and I'm sure you've heard of many of them, but in case you haven't, I'm sharing a bunch of our favorites here with a description of each so you can know before you buy. HERE is the link to shop all of the books I'm about to cover, but I will also encourage you to shop from a second hand bookstore if you're able. There's just something so special about having a book that's not in perfect condition and has been loved well by another family.

Alright, let's get to the good part! Let's talk books!

DR. SEUSS BOOKS FOR YOUR KID'S BOOKSHELF

The Sneetches and Other Stories: This is one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books and what I love most about this one is that it's so underrated. It's a collection of Dr. Seuss stories in one book and the short stories are some of my favorites. Obviously, the tale of the sneetches is so good. Some of the sneetches have stars on their bellies and the other sneetches want stars on their bellies in order to feel seen or like they fit in. A man comes with a machine and starts putting stars on the bellies of the sneetches that don't have one while simultaneously making the other sneetches pay him to go through a separate machine to have their stars taken off. It's a story to model the value of uniqueness and how special it can be to be different. The rest of the book is full of other types of stories and we love them all!

Oh, The Things You Can Think: This one is pretty popular and for good reason! I love how it encourages kids to think about all of the things they could possibly think about, encouraging them to use their imagination and have an opinion.

Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?: This is a fun rhyming story that deals with a lot of sounds. The book says that Mr Brown can make all of these noises and then asks the kids to repeat the noise. I love hearing my kids try to mimic the sound from Mr. Brown and watching them figure out how to imitate the noise is adorable!

Horton Hatches an Egg: Horton is one of our beloved characters from Dr. Seuss and he's an elephant who's been asked to watch over a bird's egg. He takes his job very seriously and stays with the egg until the mother comes back once it has hatched, but to her surprise, what hatches is part bird and part elephant! It's the cutest story and a favorite for our family.

Green Eggs and Ham: I may be partial to this one because this is the first book I learned to read all by myself, but regardless, it's a great story and one we will always love! Sam I Am is one of the main characters from the book and he is trying to convince his friend to try Green Eggs and Ham. He spends the whole book trying to convince him all of the different ways he can try it and by the end of the book, he finally does and realizes that they are delicious!

Fox in Socks: Another great book and I'm sure you've seen the videos of parents trying to rap the contents of this book. If you haven't, go look it up right away and consider yourself challenged! This is a really cool rhyming book that takes the kids through a bunch of different ways to make rhyming work to make a story.

There's a Wocket in My Pocket: Open this book and see all of the amazing little creatures that live in this silly house! A little boy takes us through his home and shares how he has a wocket in his pocket among many other little creatures that live in his home like a zillow on the pillow, etc. We love this one!

The Foot Book: Everything you need to know about feet is in this book. Whether it's a left foot, right foot, sick foot, healthy foot, etc. There are a bunch of different types of feet in this book and Dr. Seuss makes sure we know all about them.

Horton Hears a Who: We welcome back our favorite elephant, Horton, and we find him protecting a small speck of dust which houses an entire civilization of microscopic people that he cannot see, but can hear. All of his friends mock him and tell him to drop the speck of dust, but Horton covets the speck and takes care of it until it's placed safely somewhere to protect the people.

Oh, The Places You'll Go: This is a fan favorite and for good reason! It talks about all of the places we can go when we set our mind to it and apply effort. It became super popular because a lot of parents use this book as a gift to their kiddos at graduation. They have all of their teachers write letters and messages on the pages of the book and then give it to them when they graduate high school-- it's such a cute idea!

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I hope this gives you a solid place to start as you create an intentional book nook for your kiddos. Doing this for my kids is one of my favorite things and it's also really nice to be able to switch out the books as needed.

The Importance of Switching Out Books

Whether you have a seasonal shelf in your playroom or in each of your kid's rooms, there are SO many benefits to switching out your books with the changing seasons. First of all, it helps your kids to have a better understanding of the structure of the year and the different things you get to do or experience within that time. Second of all, it really helps to keep your books fresh and lively versus reading the same books all of the time.

How We Store Our Seasonal Books

I have a bunch of small buckets (which I'll link HERE) that house our seasonal books and I store them in our game closet, but you could also store them in the garage. I have a bucket for each big season or holiday- Spring, Easter, Summer, Fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and so on. I store everything I need for the seasonal shelf in the bucket and each bucket is labeled so it's easy to find. You could also use large ziplock bags depending on how many books you have (you don't need a lot of books in order for this to feel special).

When it Comes to Buying Books

Let's state the obvious- books can be really expensive. That's why I always try to link new books that are $10 or less (when or where I can) because I know how crazy expensive it can be. This is also why I encourage you to shop at a used bookstore or consignment sale when possible! Many of our books are not new and have been purchased second hand, so don't forget to look for seasonal books the next time you go thrifting! Sometimes you can find them for as low as $1 each.

Setting Up the Book Nook

Our current Book Nook is located on a wall in our playroom. It was super easy to put together, but I also want you to know that it didn't start out this way. Our seasonal books started out as a simple basket in the boy's room with the right books for the season or holiday. As they got older and we moved to a new house, I decided to make a more permanent space which is where we are today.

I found the baskets on Amazon and this was probably the most important part because you want to make sure you're finding baskets that are sturdy enough to hold a lot of books. The baskets I use and would recommend are linked with the books and come in a set of four.

Once I have those in place, I add a few simple things to make it a little more festive. A seasonal banner, from the one and only Hunny Prints, hangs above the books and I usually try to add another element for the season like a garland, etc.

This is a super easy thing you can do to magnify the magic of each holiday or season and once you fall into a routine, it may just become your new favorite thing. As always, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to me.

Stay tuned because I'll be sharing our Birthday Book Nook next and you don't want to miss it! Thanks for stopping by and I'll see ya again real soon.

SB