The children's book got a public boost during the speech on the Senate floor. | REUTERS 10 facts about 'Green Eggs and Ham'

Longtime favorite children’s book “Green Eggs and Ham” got a public boost on Tuesday night when Sen. Ted Cruz talked about it and read the book into the Senate record during his more than 17-hour speech on the Senate floor against Obamacare. Here are 10 facts about the well-known Dr. Seuss book.

1. “Green Eggs and Ham” was published by Random House in 1960.


2. It was No. 4 on Publishers Weekly’s 2001 list of all-time best-selling children’s books.

3. Dr. Seuss is a pen name: His real name is Theodor Seuss Geisel.

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4. “Green Eggs and Ham” uses only 50 different words. Seuss’s editor bet him after “The Cat in the Hat,” which used 225 words, that he couldn’t write a book using fewer.

5. On Amazon.com, the hardcover book was ranked 732nd on the all books best-seller list, and the Kindle edition was No. 8 on the classic children’s book list as of 11 a.m. on Wednesday. It’s unclear if Cruz’s endorsement made much change in book sales: The book was not one of the top 100 “ movers and shakers” on Amazon’s 24-hour sales gainers rankings on Wednesday morning.

6. A number of famous chefs have been inspired to create recipes for green eggs and ham, including Martha Stewart, Rachael Ray and Paula Deen.

7. A federal judge used “Green Eggs and Ham” as an inspiration in a 2007 court order after receiving a hard-boiled egg in the mail from an inmate protesting his diet in prison. Writing in rhyme, the judge ordered the egg destroyed: “I do not like eggs in the file,” U.S. District Court Judge James Muirhead wrote. “I do not like them in any style. I will not take them fried or boiled. I will not take them poached or broiled. I will not take them soft or scrambled/Despite an argument well-rambled. No fan I am/Of the egg at hand. Destroy that egg! Today! Today! Today I say! Without delay!”

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8. Amazon sells “Green Eggs and Ham” in 60 formats and editions, including audio book, e-book and hardcover.

9. The School Library Journal gave the book this review: “Limited vocabulary but unlimited exuberance of illustration.”

10. Spoiler alert: In the end, the unnamed character who repeatedly declares “I do not like them, Sam-I-am, I do not like green eggs and ham” tries them — and likes them.