As one the world’s most beloved writers, poets, and artists, Dr. Seuss’ books have sold over 220 million copies and have been printed in over 15 languages.

His books delight adults and children of all ages, including the members of my very own household. “The Cat in the Hat,” “The Lorax,” and “Oh, the Thinks You Can Think” are staples in my children’s bedtime routines. In fact, my own father claims I made him read “The Cat in the Hat” to me every single night for 12 consecutive months. He also says you can skip every other page of the book without a child noticing, in case you are in the same boat. I am sharing 10 fun facts about Dr. Seuss that you may not know. You ready?

1. Dr. Seuss’ real name is Theodore Seuss Geisel.

2. “Oh, the Places You’ll Go” sells about 200,000 copies a year, mostly because of its popularity as a high school and college graduation gifts.

3. “The Cat in the Hat” uses 225 words and “Green Eggs and Ham” uses exactly 50.
In case you were wondering, those 50 words are: a, am, and, anywhere, are, be, boat, box, car, could, dark, do, eat, eggs, fox, goat, good, green, ham, here, house, I, if, in, let, like, may, me, mouse, not, on, or, rain, Sam, say, see, so, thank, that, the, them, there, they, train, tree, try, will, with, would, you.

4. Dr. Seuss was an outspoken liberal Democrat. It is widely believed that “The Lorax” is his interpretation on environmental issues and an expression of his belief that humans are destroying nature.

5. “If I Ran the Zoo,” written in 1950, is the first recorded instance of the usage of the word, “nerd.”

6. March 2nd, Dr. Seuss’ birthday, has been adopted as the National Read Across America Day, an initiative started by the National Education Association

7. Though he devoted most of his life to writing children’s books, Dr. Seuss never had children of his own.

8. The German surname, “Seuss,” is actually pronounced “SOYSS,” rhyming with “voice.” Geisel switched to the anglicized pronunciation, “SOOS,” because it “evoked a figure advantageous for an author of children’s books to be associated with” – Mother Goose - and because most people used this pronunciation.

9. Over the course of his long career Geisel wrote over 60 books. Though most were published under his well-known pseudonym, Dr. Seuss, he also authored over a dozen books as Theo LeSieg and one as Rosetta Stone.

10. Dr. Seuss’ first book that he wrote and illustrated, “And to Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street,” was rejected 27 times before it was published by Vanguard Press in 1937.

Thank you for inspiring generations of adults and children to read, learn, laugh and play.

Which Dr. Seuss books do you remember reading as a child? 

Exciting family dining newsflash, everyone! IKEA will be offering veggie non-meatballs starting today! Kid brothers to the classic, the new balls will be comprised of “tasty chunks of vegetables and a good protein level to support a main meal.” Sounds sort of good! Maybe even healthy too and since they are in ball form, attractive to the kiddos? These veggie balls (GRÖNSAKSBULLAR – try pronouncing that!) have got me thinking, what’s the healthy food at IKEA anyway?

I should admit that before researching this I thought recipes developed in a brisk and robust northern European country, where the flat-packed boxes are so clean and flab-free, would naturally be so as well. Or maybe that was just denial because it’s so wonderfully cheap and kind of fun. But I’ve read the (somewhat) frightening fine print, and there is no use running. Better to be informed than to eat a day’s salt in one sitting.

Here’s some food knowledge for you, not enough to make you too full, just some bites to chew-on, organized into first into adult’s and then kid’s, yum and yuck lists. Enjoy!

Adult yum:

• Meatballs are ok! (wheew) They are surprisingly at the lower end of the calorie count, with 530 cal. for the 10 meatball dinner and 690 for the 15 (ugh) meatball dinner. Both are super high in sodium, both totaling in at more than ½ your total for the day, but sadly pretty much everything at IKEA is too salty. Salad bar anyone? Thankfully they don’t salt their raw veggies.
• Pasta with marinara and meatballs, small salad and garlic toast is also a good choice. 650 cal., and 1000 mg sodium
• Better if not boring is plain pasta with marinara at 330 cal. and 210 sodium. And it’s organic to boot!
• Salmon is often a good choice, and IKEA says it is going to start only using fish caught sustainably. The salmon, potatoes and veggie dinner is a dainty 390 cal., but again too much salt, 1220 mg.
• I don’t think our IKEA serves crepes, but if it did, I’d get that. More fun than plain pasta for sure, and filled with yummy things like organic mushroom and cheese. 270 cal., 680 sodium.

Adult yuck:

• Babyback ribs are not ok! The full babyback rib meal is a whopping 1650 calories! Though if you wanted to be like my grandmother who swore she only ate one meal a day, this one would give you all the calories and salt you needed.
• The herb roasted chicken might seem a good choice, but at 2,350mg sodium it has more than your day’s allotment. Makes me thirsty just thinking about it.
• Say “Boo!” to the chicken tenders! 900 calories and 2,040 mg sodium.
• The hot dog combo meal has 1,010 cal and 1,860 mg sodium. No!

Kids’ yum:

• Mac’n’cheese! Let them dig in. With both the lowest calorie and sodium counts, 390 cal. and 420 mg sodium, this is the one time that mac and cheese is by far the healthiest thing on the menu.
• Organic pasta meal. As boring as it is for the adults, but sadly, so many kids like boring. 390 cal. and 420 mg sodium.
• Frozen Yogurt! But you can tell your kids it’s vanilla ice cream and if they don’t know how to read yet, they truly won’t know the difference. It’s super yummy and only 130 calories.

Kids’ yuck:

• Chicken tenders are tempting, but try to resist! They have 450 calories, and 1,010 mg sodium. Way too much of both for a little kid.
• Meatballs. I feel like I keep repeating myself, but again, too much salt! Only 280 cal., but 1.010 mg of sodium. Blech.

And the new veggie balls!? Not sure yet. I couldn’t find their nutritional information, but I’m hoping for a yum. The IKEA website says they are aiming high in the direction of health and sustainability so we may get lucky. Just go easy with that salt shaker, IKEA and we won’t need to drink so much of your lingonberry juice!

What are you favorite eats at IKEA?