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GREEN EGGS AND HAM changed my life:

One peaceful Sunday afternoon, a particularly inspired ecclesiastical leader stopped me in the hall, called me into his office, and told me to sit down. He wheeled around in his chair to face his bookshelf. I reached for my Bible. Without turning around, he said, "Put it away. You've been reading that long enough. It's time you look at it from a different perspective."

"I am Sam. Sam I am. That Sam I Am. That Sam I Am. I do not like that Sam I Am," he began. I chuckled. Perhaps the man had finally lost it, and who could blame him? An entire congregation with the likes of me could very easily send the sanest of men off a cliff. He ignored my chuckle and continued, "Do you like Green Eggs and Ham? I do not like them Sam I Am."

"I do not like Green Eggs and Ham," he read as if it were a sermon. I sat, somewhat bewildered, somewhat confused, and somewhat entertained. It had been a while since I had heard the story, and I had certainly never heard it read quite like this, by a man like this. "Would you like them here or there? I would not like them here or there," he bellowed. I stopped trying to figure out what his point was. He continued to preach, and I continued to listen. "So I will eat them in a box and I will eat them with a fox."

"It's about time that stupid guy listened to Sam I Am. He'd been offering him some delicious food for quite some time," I thought. Then it hit me. I'd been attending church for years. I'd been reading scripture for years, and it all finally made sense. "I do so like green eggs and ham. Thank you! Thank you, Sam I Am!" For years I had been given a different food, the bread of life. Much like Sam I Am's antagonist, I refused to even try it. I resolved, at that moment, to try those things I'd been taught, to give them a chance and see if my life too could be better.

Now I teach high school and the first thing I read every year is GREEN EGGS AND HAM. I explain, in the most theatrical manner possible, that I am asking them to do things that will make their life better: read daily, write daily, do homework, say kind words, be respectful, come to school, don't do drugs, etc., and they look at me like I am Sam I Am. My response:

You do not like them.
So you say.
Try them! Try them!
And you may.
Try them and you may, I say.

Doctor Seuss's HORTON HEARS A WHO also has had a large impact in my life and in my classroom. The explicit theme of the book, "A person's

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