Wacky and Tacky - on purpose!

It's Seuss Week!


What exactly is Seuss Week, you ask? Well, it's a busy and fun week long celebration of the fantastic children's author, Theodore Seuss Geisel (aka: Dr. Seuss).

You know Dr. Seuss... he wrote The Cat in the Hat, Horton Hears a Who, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and 44 other fantastic books for children.

Now, what you may not know about Dr. Seuss is that as a child his mother let him draw on the walls in his bedroom (don't try this at home!), and that one of his first jobs as an adult was drawing advertisements for bug spray. It might also be a surprise to you that it took him more than 20 tries before a publisher accepted the manuscript and illustrations for his first book, And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street.

So, why does Seuss Week get a spotlight here at B&K? Well, as the school librarian, K hosts Seuss week, and B gets to hear all about it! There is lots of planning (seriously, lots of planning!) and lots of talking about the planning. Then, during the week of Dr. Seuss's birthday (March 2), as K hosts different activities and events at her school each day, there continues to be a lot of talk about Seuss between B&K (and I mean a lot of talk about Seuss!).

One of the fun things about Seuss Week is celebrating a book by Dr. Seuss everyday and dress-up to go with that book. So, "crazy caps" to celebrate The Cat in the Hat, "silly socks" to celebrate Fox in Socks, "favorite colors" for My Many Colored Days, favorite places for Oh, The Places You'll Go, and the most fun of all... "outrageous outfits" to celebrate Wacky Wednesday.

It's because of Wacky Wednesday that today things are, well, WACKY (and a bit tacky).

Case in point... Ms. Wacky-Tacky (all the way from Ar-Can-Sauce):

Yep, that's me... aka: Ms. Wacky-Tacky in all my "whacked out glory" for Wacky Wednesday! The only thing missing are the big ol' Bubba teeth that really make me look strange. It is so fun to become this character and to see the wonder on so many faces of the precious children that I work with as they try to figure out if it's really me behind those glasses and fake teeth.

I always set them up to think that I will be gone to a workshop on Wacky Wednesday (and my awesome teacher friends play along and help me with this ruse!). Then I tell the students that my "distant cousin," Ms. Wacky-Tacky from "Ar-Can-Sauce" will join them for the day (NOTE: Even though I have no cousins that look this wacky in real life, I have to give the children some reason for why Ms. Wacky-Tacky and I look so similar!). Then I show up in my "whacked out glory" and watch for their reactions. All I can say is... Priceless!

There are some children who just aren't sure if it's really me or my "distant cousin," and it's fun to hear them defend why they think Ms. Wacky-Tacky is a different person from me. My favorite this year came from a kindergartener who told one of his friends: "It can't be Mrs. Murphy. Mrs. Murphy doesn't have a brown pimple on her face. It has to be Ms. Wacky-Tacky." In case you were wondering, Ms. Wacky-Tacky doesn't have a brown pimple either, it was a "mole" that I drew by my mouth with eye liner, but I loved his logic!

Wacky Wednesday is one of my favorite days. It is such a fun way to cut loose and celebrate Seuss and it forges a bond between me and my colleagues and students built on fun, laughter, and enjoying a good book. What a great way to strengthen relationships (and a great reason to throw together your own "outrageous outfit!")