Did you know that it’s the 50th anniversary of Dr. Seuss’ classic book Green Eggs and Ham? That means that most of you, like me, remember the book from your childhood and have also shared it with your kids (I’ll bet that some of you even remember the book from your childhood, shared it with your kids, and now look forward to sharing it with your grandkids!).
In Seuss’ classical repetitive and rhyming style, the unnamed character who will not eat green eggs and ham is pursued and coaxed by Sam-I-am until he finally consents to try them. Of course he tries them and he likes them, which is a lesson that we all hope our picky eaters will learn from, right? That makes it a wonderful story to share — a fun lesson told in a way which might drive the parents crazy is a wonderful way for kids to learn to read and to experience the fun cadence of language.
I’ve shared the story with my kids, but I know that my 6-year-old son Kyle could read it on his own now, and I think he’d get a kick out of that, so it’s time to pull it out and put it in front of him.
Click the image for some fun pork recipes inspired by the book.
In honor of the anniversary, I have a fun giveaway for one of you to encourage you and your kids to get in the kitchen and try some of these recipes (U.S. shipping addresses only):
- Green Eggs and Ham 50th Anniversary Edition
- One set of adult sized Green Eggs and Ham apron/chef hat
- One set of kid sized Green Eggs and Ham apron/chef hat
- One gift certificate valued at $25 for your favorite pork product
- One extendable fork
Just leave a comment here if you’d like to win. Just for fun, tell us what your family thinks about ham, or let me know which of the featured recipes above you might like to try (I have to say that deviled eggs with ham and avocado sounds delicious!).
We’ll announce the winner in this column on December 27.
Disclosure: I received my own fun prize pack in exchange for posting this post and giveaway.
5 Minutes for Books managing editor Jennifer Donovan loves books and she loves food, which makes this a perfect post for her. When she’s not reading or writing reviews (which isn’t very often these days), she also blogs at Snapshot.
Ham lovers we AM!!! I grew up on a farm and we were so spoiled. Now…it is a treat! We are planning to have for our family celebration on New Years Eve day with the 6 kids and 3 grand kids…and having HAM because it is something EVERYONE loves and I love to make home made scalloped potatoes and ham with leftovers, ham and cheese omelets, provolone and ham grilled sandwiches…oh boy, I am drooling!
My lil’ grand kids would love this book and the adorable apron and chef hat set! WOW…50 years…I was just born then…had no idea I shared this “anniversary”!
I’d love to win this for my son
kgrant77 at gmail.com
What a cool giveaway-I would like to try the mini turtelets
thanks for the giveaway
The ham and avocado deviled eggs sound really good. We love ham here.
twoofakind12@yahoo.com
We love the book “Green Egss and Ham,” Dr. Seuss has always been such a favorite. I would bet the Ham and Avocado Deviled Egss would be delicouss. One of our family’s favorites is a 15 Bean Soup with chunks of baked Ham. Yummy.
I would like to try low and slow pulled pork recipe.
janetfaye (at) gmail (dot) com
Green eggs and ham is such a classic Seuss tale. I love dying eggs green after reading this story with my kids. Oh, and ham is our must-have Christmas dinner meat!
Dr. Seuss books were a staple in our house. My girls learned to read with Green Eggs & Ham as well as Hop on Pop, Cat in the Hat, etc.
This way the very first book I read by myself and I would love to share that with my son. We all love ham!
I would love to try the Ham and Avacado deviled eggs. My son is the Ham lover in our family and he would get a big kick out of this.
Our family loves ham! And Dr. Seuss is wonderful!
we love ham at this house! and love love love dr. seuss!
I want, I want, some green eggs & ham! 🙂
I like ham and eggs, so good together! Add some green dye to the eggs and the kids get a kick out of it, wanting me to read Dr.Seuss after breakfast!lol
Oh! I so want to win this!! We LOVED this book, me and the kids, when they were little. And then we moved to Africa, where we recognized Sam-I-Am’s selling techniques (i.e. follow nonstop and never shut up or give up) amongst the street merchants. This book is such a classic!! What a great giveaway!
And yes, I have made green eggs with food colouring, but best was when a friend had unusual chickens and we got real-live green eggs from them!
I’d LOVE to win this! Yes, we eat ham here – typically with Swiss cheese but sometimes with fresh mozzarella. Even by itself, it’s delish!
This is a really great gift to win.
I love Dr. Seuss!
Great books!
Ham! HAM!
We love it,
We like it,
We ride a bike with it.
What fun giveaway. I’m sure my 4 yr old would love it considering she’s a big Dr Seuss fan and says she will also be the Next Iron Chef, cooking besides Chef Bobby Flay
we love ham at our house!
Sorry…I got so excited I forgot to say which recipe I’d try.
Tho they all look like fun, I agree with you the deviled eggs with ham and avocado look divine!
You must understand…this is my all time favorite book ever!! I was 6yrs old when this book hit the world and I am a gigantic Dr. Seuss fan.
My parents read this to me every night for a year and I can still recite most of it by heart. I read it to my kids and hope to read it to my grand kids.
Fantastical giveaway, thanks!
I LOVE ham…the deviled eggs with ham and avocado really do look amazing!!! I love this book and hope to give it to my son and dye lots of eggs for him to gross him out!
We love spiral-cut maple ham with pineapple!
skkorman AT bellsouth DOT enet
I’d like to try the recipe for Ham and Green Egg Sushi. Looks delish. Thanks.
partymix25(at)hotmail(dot)com
We actually eat Turkey Ham as a family but my DH and kiddos love pork products. My DH and I have been reading this story to our kids since my first was a yr old. It is a family favorite!
We really enjoy ham but don’t eat it very often. Usually twice a year. This would be a fun thing fom me and the kids. They are at the age now where they finally like reading all our Dr. Seuss books.
I like ham and cheddar cheese omlets, and everyone in our family likes grilled ham and cheese sandwhiches.
I love to read books to kids.
And with Dr. Seuss, they LOL and ask for it over and over and over… 🙂
We love ham,I actually just baked one for Sunday Dinner,its a huge favorite at my house,we find many ways to eat it
vlbelk(at)hotmail.com
I’d love to win. We love ham at our house. Left over ham sandwiches are great around the holidays!
Ham is one of my grandsons favorite foods. The Ham Sandwich with Greens and Eggs sounds pretty good!
someluckydog at gmail dot com
we love pork, ham is okay, but everything pork yummy 🙂
Definately the ham and avacado deviled eggs! I love ham but I don’t eat a lot of it due to dieting. Would love to win the book. Thank you.
My family loves ham so much we dont have turkey at Thanksgiving and Christmas, we just have a big ham! I think I will try the deviled eggs with ham. We raise chickens so we have a ton of eggs, and sometimes I make deviled eggs just to get the eggs eaten before they go bad!
theblackat at hotmail dot com
Don’t eat pork, but the other stuff sounds great 😉
the tartlets sound good..i love spiral sliced ham
nannypanpan at sbcglobal.net
I’d like to take a look in it :).
My kids love ham, probably prefer it to turkey at the holidays.
all of the recipes look yummy! we always have ham and turkey for Thanksgiving because my grandpa didn’t like turkey…he’s been gone for a couple of years now, but we still have to always have ham in his honor (to be truthful, this year the ham was better than the turkey!)
Cute set! My 3 yr old would love the book!!
Our entire family loves ham – one of my spouse’s gifts is an imported ham (that I’m hoping will last into January!)
Hi – my family (my husband and 2 boys) LOVE ham, especially honey baked ham. Thanks, Maureen (jnomaxx at hotmail dot com0
This sounds like fun – I’d share with my grandsons that live close by! They love to have books read to them! And I love pork recipes, too.
Wow, this is a wonderful gift. I once fixed my kids green eggs and ham. The only way they would eat it was because I read the book to them. HA HA
Dr. Seuss books are always great. They never grow old, even reading them to my grandkids I enjoy his humor. Great gifts
Oh how fun! My kids love this story! And we love ham! Hot or cold!
coriwestphal at msn dot com
Just like plain ham sandwich!
Our family loves ham! I agree, the Ham and Avocado Deviled Eggs look yummy!
What a fun giveaway… would love to win!
I love ham! And I love Dr. Seuss! Perfect combination!
I personally love ham my husband is pickier! Yummy avacados with anything, never thought of putting them with deviled eggs!
Thanks!
I love a good spiral honey ham, with mustard sauce. YUM! 🙂 Thanks for the fun giveaway.
I would like to try the ham sandwich with greens and eggs. Looks good! 🙂
Great Giveaway. Thank you!
Everyone loves ham except my husband.
oh please enter me
Our family loves ham – especially at Christmas time!
we like good ol tofu n ham
What a wonderful giveaway and it would be so much fun enjoying breakfast and reading the book!! I would make deviled eggs ,add a touch of green and my granddaughter would have a blast!!
Thanks for the chance
I would love to win this for my husband so he can fix himself some pork! (I am a vegetarian but I love Dr. Seuss!)
What a fun poster! Think I will try making the tartlets.
i would love to try the green eggs and ham sandwich
I would like to try the Honey Pork Tenderloin Kabobs recipe.
mamabunny13 at gmail dot com
Oh how fun. I think my kids would really love creating the tartlets.
danellejohns at gmail dot com
Ah yes, ham – aka Pink Meat. The only meat my pink loving daughter will willingly eat!
Would like to win it for my wife
Please enter me.
I love Dr.Suess and I love the fact that I get to read Dr. Seuss to my children! We all love ham at my house!
I’d like to try the Mini Tartlets.
My husband LOVES ham, my son HATES ham! I can take it or leave it! But, I love the BOOK! Thanks for a chance to win!
kmassmanATgmailDOTcom
We love ham! I’d like to try the ham sandwich with cheese & eggs. Thanks for the great giveaway. Very nice!
pbclark(at)netins(dot)net
deviled eggs with ham and avacado? I’d love to try that!
My kids are starting to learn where their food comes from. Like what animals gives us what food/meat. We just had ham for dinner last night (one of my favorites!) and they remembered it was from a pig!
My husband and son are huge ham fans. Thanks!
I love ham but have no idea how to cook with it!! I am a hopeless cook so I will take any thing that might help me!
We love the book! Ham is a huge hit in our house. I love using the leftovers from baked ham in my eggs at breakfast. Yum!
I love “Green Eggs and Ham”! Classic book. And I love ham. Too, too much, really. And I think the tartlets look so yummy!
We love ham, especially honeybaked ham.
lkish77123 at gmail dot com
Who doesn’t love Dr. Seuss? Great books and gift!
I have a grandson named Sam. I call him Sam I Am! I love Dr. Seuss books, I read them as much as possible to my grandkids. Great gift!
The coolest gift for the holidays. yay!
I love ham, especially a Honeybaked
Green Eggs and Ham was always one of the first books my kids could read on their own. It’s an all time favorite! Michael Symon’s sandwiches look delicious!
Oh my goodness! My daughter LOVES this book! And she likes ham too…eggs, not so much!
Everybody in my family LOVES ham… except me. 😉 That’s okay, there’s turkey for me. But, I think I’d make an exception for those Ham and Avocado Deviled eggs, just because I adore avocado AND deviled eggs!
We are huge Dr. Seuss fans! We also like ham. I may try the Ham sandwich with eggs and greens.
we love ham and to make split pea soup with the leftovers
My family loves ham! Ham and cauliflower gratin from RR.
We always have ham for Christmas dinner. Love it!!
My kids are grown now but I remember making green eggs for them & I think I have to make some & read the book to my grandson too!
We love ham! I was just thinking the other day that I want to do green eggs & ham with my son. It would be fun!
i’d l ike to win! love honey ham with scalloped potatoes (and carrots and green beans and rolls)
Who doesn’t need an extendable fork?? Hehe! Actually, I think this whole set is fabulous, and we love ham…and Dr. Seuss!
We love ham on sandwiches, as part of a casserole, or in soups. I agree that the Ham and Avocado Deviled Eggs sounds good, it’s on my to try list!
cjwallace43 at gmail dot com
I like ham, but not so much eggs (green or otherwise). I do love reading Dr. Seuss to storytime kids though!
We eat ham on occasion. Now that our son is getting old enough I think he’d probably enjoy reading this book and cooking some green eggs to go with it. 🙂
This cookbook seems so fun! My girls lovelovelove ham!
My husband really loves ham. He could eat it everyday. I like it fried.
We love ham! We’re having it for Christmas dinner. Ham sandwiches for leftovers will be yummy too!
I love ham! My kids do as well!
My family loves ham!
Half of us love ham the other half hate it, I’m hoping this could help change their mind.
The whole family loves ham. it is one of the few meats i actually eat!
I have never made my kids green eggs & ham…and I’ve only read the book once. We only own one Dr. Seuss book (sad, right?) but we borrow often from the library. I personally am not a fan of ham except hot ham at Christmas.
Love love love love love Ham. We don’t get to have it often but when we do we make ‘pigs’ out of ourselves. The deviled eggs with ham & avocado does sound delightful. The Ham and Cheese Muffins sound good too.
I’ll be making ham for Christmas–it’s a favorite at our house!
I would love to try the Ham Sandwich with Greens and Eggs.
my family loves dr seuss! and the mini tartlets look DELISH!
My husband and I love ham, we haven’t convinced the kiddo that it’s great yet, but we are still trying!
I LOVE Dr Seuss! .I made Green Eggs and Ham for my kids when they were small. I’m hoping sometime in the next couple years I’ll get some grandkids to make this for too! If not, I’ll try it out on my dogs. I know they’d eat it! LOL!
We’re big fans of the book here and I’ve added green food coloring to my eggs to recreate it myself! I’d love the recipe for the deviled eggs and avocado! Sounds right up my alley!
We love ham. It’s my kid’s favorite lunchmeat and there’s nothing more delicious than a big, smoked ham for a special dinner.
Hi, I am a new homeschool mom and I love your site I have a 2 and 4 year old, who loves eggs and ham. They both also love Dr seuss’ Green eggs and ham book. The 2 year old already reads it by himself…lol. The 4 yr old loves to play Amazing Green eggs and ham game on the Seusville website. He also loves to cook. This would be my first year cooking green eggs and ham in honor of Dr Seus. So I would have to clear the recipe with my 4 yr old first…..lol. I hope we win!
My 15 year old and I love deviled eggs…avocado / ham ones sound so interesting. My 5 yr old twins like ham, LOVE Dr Suess, and most of us love eggs. Not a bad tally, all in all. 😀
My whole family loves ham. We love Dr. Seuss. I have read the books so many times to my children that I know them by heart!
I would love to win this to share with my grandson Max. I remember how much my two boys adored Dr. Seuss books when they were little… aah the memories 🙂 My husband loves, loves, loves ham. The boys and I lean more towards turkey. But, we all love eggs!
My oldest daughter and I love ham, my husband isn’t a big fan of it. That just means more for the rest of us 🙂
Love that ham!! My son eats it without any added extras. A monte cristo sandwich sounds good. 🙂