On a faraway campus in Lawrence (KU),
A young man named Doug wanted something to do.
He’d had it with reading Poe, Hawthorne and Twain,
And he wanted to hear Dr. Seuss once again.
“Oh, I know what I’ll do!” the man thought to himself,
“I’ll form my own club, using books from my shelf!
“We’ll read tales of the Lorax and `Green Eggs and Ham,’
“Of Horton, the Grinch and that guy, Sam-I-Am.”
So he gathered some friends, who yelled “Whooop!” and “Yippeeee!”
And that’s how the Dr. Seuss Club came to be.
Doug Hesse wants the whole world to discover-or rediscover-the soothing, amusing, stress-relieving qualities of his favorite author, Theodor “Dr. Seuss” Geisel.
And perhaps no one needs The Doctor more than your average college student.
“There’s a lot of pressure on you in college,” said Hesse, 23, a photojournalism major at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. “You’re taking tests and working and trying to make it on your own.
“I think it’s a time when you rediscover your childhood a little bit. You pick up a Dr. Seuss book and say, `Hey, I remember this. I used to love that story.’ “
Hesse formed the Dr. Seuss Club about three years ago, after hearing about a similar club at the author’s alma mater, the University of Massachusetts. About 35 people attended the first meeting at KU, and Geisel himself sent a letter authenticating the club.
But not until recently has Hesse’s group been recognized as an official student organization, earning student senate funding and its own listing in the campus telephone directory (beside such established groups as Phi Beta Kappa and the Juggling Club).
“I guess you could say we met with a lot of opposition in the early years,” Hesse said. “We really weren’t taken seriously.”
Even so, when Geisel died in 1991, Hesse received cards and other shows of sympathy from students and faculty members.
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“People were coming up to me and saying, `I just heard. I’m so sorry,’ ” Hesse said. “It was kind of weird, because I’d never even met the man.”
Now the club has more than 200 members, and campus readings regularly attract large crowds. Dedicated members meet twice a month to read and discuss Seuss’ work, drawing from an extensive library of books donated by local bookstores and others who support the club. At a recent gathering, members listened to a cassette of comedian Billy Crystal reading “Horton Hatches the Egg.”
But the group’s primary mission, says Jessica Perinchief, this year’s president, is spreading the gospel of Seuss to the younger generation. Members frequently visit elementary schools and hospital pediatric wards.
“When you see these kids, it’s amazing,” said Perinchief, 18. “They’re absolutely fascinated by these books. Some will say the words along with you, and if you read something wrong, they’ll tell you.
“And some haven’t even seen a Dr. Seuss book before, which I think is absolutely horrifying.”
Hesse said his favorite Seuss story is “The Lorax,” an environmental fable in which Super-Axe-Hackers chop down all the Truffula Trees, smogulous smoke drives away the Swomee-Swans, and Gluppity-Glupp and Schloppity-Schlopp force the Humming-Fish to find new water.
“They’re intelligent books,” Hesse said. “Anybody can enjoy the rhyme and rhythm, but when you get older, that’s when you appreciate the message.”
Perinchief still likes “McElligot’s Pool,” for what you might call childish reasons: “It’s all about fish, and I like fish.”
Perinchief, who has a “Cat in the Hat” hat (a gift from Hesse when she succeeded him as club president), has her own explanation of why Seuss appeals to college-age folks.
“This is the time in a person’s life when you’re being sort of shoved into growing up. Everyone wants you to act like an adult,” she said.
“So when you get a chance to be a kid again, you grab onto it for dear life. Dr. Seuss makes you feel like a kid again.”