A 50-year feast in 50 words: Happy Birthday, Green Eggs & Ham | News In Brief | Marketplace from American Public Media
Around these parts I’m quite famous for my dramatic readings of ‘Green Eggs and Ham’, bellowing the ‘Sam’ parts in baritone with the focused, deranged intensity of Willy Loman. Kids either giggle sublimely or piddle their pants. The book, unlike a lot of Seuss, is not tedious and, if you let it, runs down a fast hill.
Happy Fitty Birthday Sam-I-Am!
When Dr. Seuss took on a bet from his editor to conjure up a book using only 50 words, he probably couldn’t have imagined he’d match the success of The Cat and the Hat. But 50 years later, the meal parents have used to gross out their kids at bedtime for decades remains one of the Doctor’s best-sellers and one of the best-selling children’s books in general. Green Eggs & Ham was first published on Aug. 12, 1960, using 49 monosyllabic words (“anywhere” is the exception) and costing Seuss editor Bennett Cerf $50.
Make sure you read the linky to the wager that sparked ‘Green Eggs or Ham’.