Review: Well Done
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 20, 2013
As a mother of a toddler, I read at least three Dr. Suess books a week. I don't particularly care for the nonsense of Dr. Suess as an adult, but Owen and I both enjoy the dialogue of The Lorax. Even though I read out loud the books of Dr. Suess at least three times a week and at least one Berenstein Bear book a week (which owes at least a fraction of its success to Suess), I knew nothing of the man. Fortunately, Charles River Editors have made it their mission to write brief biographies of famous people to the enlightenment of the working men and women. Thanks to them, I learned enough about Dr. Suess to make my weekly readings just a tiny bit more entertaining.American Legends: The Life of Dr. Suess by Charles River Editors gives a summary of the life of Ted Giesel in thirty-nine pages, with interesting quotations and relevant photographs. In those thirty-nine pages, I learned many interesting things: Suess was Ted Giesel's middle name, he never had children, his first wife committed suicide upon discovery of his affair with his best friend's wife, he was the first director of the Beginning Readers series, and he began writing children's novels because it was the only genre he was able to write in his advertising contracts.Biographies of interesting people do not necessarily need to be written rivetingly as the subject matter should be material enough to excite, but the author does need to present the subject in a manner that is not distracting. Charles River Editors succeeded in this goal, giving me a sense of Dr. Suess in very few pages. I only take away some praise for a few spelling and grammar errors that could have been avoided with more careful editing.