Associate professor of English Philip Nel stands at the front of his classroom with a book in his hand. An illuminated screen with a typed list of eight ways to look at the story glows behind him.

He opens the class for discussion, questioning the students about the themes and motifs of the book. His students begin breaking it down, talking about its ethnic and gender roles, stereotypes, general structure and prose.

The book?

"And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street," by Dr. Seuss.

Nel is the instructor of a new class in the English department devoted completely to the life and works of Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss. This is the first time in K-State's history the university has offered a class specifically on Dr. Seuss.

One could question how an entire semester could be devoted to the famous children's author, but Nel said it is harder to figure out what not to include.

"There's an enormous amount of material," Nel said. "The real challenge comes in squeezing it all into one semester."

The class doesn't just focus on his books however; it looks into his influences, style and politics.

"It's fun to take Seuss seriously," Nel said. "And that is something I hope to show with the class."

Because of his extensive research and devotion to Seuss, many consider Nel to be K-State's resident expert on all things Seuss.

He has written two books about the author, "Dr. Seuss: American Icon," published in 2004, and "The Annotated Cat: Under the Hats of Seuss and His Cats," published in 2007.

Nel said Seuss has been a part of his life since childhood.

"The first book that I could read by myself was Dr. Seuss' 'Green Eggs and Ham,'" Nel said.

Nel's parents were both immigrants from South Africa. He said his mother did not know of Seuss until she discovered his books in the public library. Nel said she was taken in by the humor and images of Seuss and brought every book home for him to read.

"That's where it all began," Nel said.

Nel said the inspiration for him to delve deeper into the work of Seuss came while he was pursuing his doctoral degree in English at Vanderbilt University. A biography called "Dr. Seuss and Mr. Geisel," by Judith and Neil Morgan, led him to write a chapter in his dissertation about Seuss.

"It made me realize that you could do a lot more with Dr. Seuss and with children's literature in general," Nel said.

Nel's class attracted the interest of many students. It is on the closed list this semester, and two weeks into the class, the room is still full of students with notebooks and pencils in hand.

Katie Pearson and Britni Kelly, both seniors, said they took the class out of sheer curiosity.

"I needed a 600-level American literature class, and I thought it would be fun to take," said Kelly, an English major.

Pearson, majoring in secondary education and English, said she always heard about the deeper meaning in Seuss' work and was curious what a class about him would be like.

"It's Dr. Seuss," she said. "And Dr. Seuss is cool."

Nel said he strongly believes that not only Seuss but children's literature in general is important to teach in the college setting. In addition to his Seuss class, he teaches two sections of Literature for Children and has instructed a Harry Potter's Library class in past semesters.

"Children's literature may be the most important literature you ever read," Nel said. "This is the stuff that you read before you've figured out who you are, before you've made up your mind on all sorts of subjects.

"This is the literature that shapes you more than anything else."