Dear Geoff:

Spot, Dick, Jane and was it Fluffy taught me to read also. As soon as I understood the decoding system, it was off in a flash to Nancy Drew, whom I devoured. This was way back in 1957, Sputnik's year, I think, and I read the old Nancy Drew with words like frock and roadsters. When the text was changed to more contemporary words--after I'd stopped reading Nancy and moved on to Agatha Christie--I think a lot was lost from the flavor of those old mysteries.

Best regards from an old stick-in-the-mud,
WW

PS: Seuss was not an influence, but he's great fun to read to kids today. Red fish, blue fish, old fish, new fish...