This week in history: Oh, the insights you’ll get

As reported by the Chicago Daily News, sister paper of the Chicago Sun-Times:

Every March, teachers and schools celebrate the doctor who cured illiteracy for a lot of children growing up — Dr. Seuss. He was born March 2, 1904.

Theodor Seuss Geisel, described by a Chicago Daily News reporter as “tall, gray-haired and looks like a mathematics professor from the Ivy League” in the Nov. 1, 1958 edition, stopped by Marshall Fields’ book section that day to sign copies for young children — and got some unexpected insight into why his books are so popular.

While signing books, a mother asked him, “What’s your secret?”

Seuss began, “It all has to do with sympathy for the underdog, a basic precept...”

But before he could finish, “freckle-faced” Marklin Smith, 7, answered, “Thidwick’s crazy! There’s a zim-a-zoo bird living in his horns!”

Smith then opened up Seuss’ latest book, “The Cat in the Hat Came Back,” pointed to one of the illustrations and said, “Look, he eats cake in the bathtub. That’s crazy, too.”

Seuss “autographed Mark’s book and said [he] guess[es] people ‘just like to laugh at crazy things.’”