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books

Pop Culture

Awesome Twitter thread explains the surprising origins of Dr. Seuss and 'The Cat in the Hat'

It all started back in 1954 with a national quest to understand “Why can't children read?”

Wikipedia, @bpoppenheimer/Twitter

How exactly did Dr. Seuss come up with "Cat in the Hat?"

Dr. Seuss is one of the most enduring and endearing children’s books writers of all time. His work has been around for over sixty years, and while certain titles certainly fall short of today’s standards, kids continue to enjoy the unique use of wordplay, illustration style and abounding optimism of his beloved classics.

But how exactly did Dr. Seuss came up with such an impactful idea in the first place? That’s a story unto itself, and one that, much like his fictional works, still feels relevant today.

As explained in a Twitter thread by writer and research assistant Billy Oppenheimer, it all began when another award-winning author, John Hershey, started investigating the looming question of 1954: “Why can't children read?”
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Joy

10 years after going unnoticed, daughter's TikTok turns dad's novel into number one best-seller

Lloyd Devereux Richards' crime thriller "Stone Maidens" shot to the No. 1 spot on Amazon.

@stonemaidens/TikTok

"Stone Maidens" is now flying off the shelves.

Never underestimate the power of the internet…or a daughter’s love.

Just ask Lloyd Devereux Richards, who’s now a bestselling author thanks to his daughter Marguerite Richards' TikTok going viral. Previously, he didn’t even know what TikTok was.

Lloyd began writing his serial killer thrillerStone Maidens” back in 1998, based on real crimes that happened during his college years in the mid-70s. He would spend a little over a decade writing the book in the few precious hours he could carve out between his law career and being a dad to three children.

The book was finally published in 2012 after years of rejections from literary agents and editors. Unfortunately, this milestone was not met with many sales.

After seeing all her father’s hard work not pay off, Marguerite didn’t want his story to end on such an anticlimactic note.

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The Icelandic tradition of gifting and reading books on Christmas Eve is an introvert's dream.

For families that celebrate Christmas, December can be a whirlwind of preparation, excitement, busyness and, frankly, stress. It's all in the name of good things—festivity, family gatherings, generosity—but phew, it can be a lot.

Perhaps that's one reason why the Icelandic tradition of Jólabókaflóð (approximately pronounced Yo-lah-boke-ah-flode) has grabbed people's attention. What if, instead of hustling and bustling, families spent the night before Christmas quietly reading?

Literally translating as "Christmas book flood," Jólabókaflóð is the tradition of not just gifting books, but actually reading them together on Christmas Eve. Imagine the whole family cozied up in front of the fire, hot cocoa in one hand and a book in the other, quietly enjoying some calm reading time together. Quite a contrast to the sensory overload that can often mark the holiday, and a decidedly introvert-friendly tradition.

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Famous writers shared their book signing woes with a disheartened new author.

Putting creative work out into the world to be evaluated and judged is nerve-wracking enough as it is. Having to market your work, especially if you're not particularly extroverted or sales-minded, is even worse.

So when you're a newly published author holding a book signing and only two of the dozens of people who RSVP'd show up, it's disheartening if not devastating. No matter how much you tell yourself "people are just busy," it feels like a rejection of you and your work.

Debut novelist Chelsea Banning recently experienced this scenario firsthand, and her sharing it led to an amazing deluge of support and solidarity—not only from other aspiring authors, but from some of the top names in the writing business.

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