Theodor Seuss Geisel

**Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, is an American author and illustrator whose books have sold more than 600 million copies worldwide.  He was born on March 2, 1904 in Springfield, Massachusetts. It is said that many of his books were autobiographical in nature from his time growing up in Springfield near Mulberry Street.  His first published children’s book in 1937 was titled “And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street.”**

**Theodor Geisel first aspired to be an author of adult books, which is why he used a different name to write children’s books.  He wanted to save his real name for the Great American Novel he was going to write. His first adult novel, “The Seven Lady Godivas,” was published in 1940 but fared poorly, which is why he decided to return to writing children’s books.**

**One of Dr. Seuss’ most popular books is “The Cat in the Hat” (1957).  In 1954, John Hersey published an article in Life magazine titled, “Why Do Students Bog Down on the First R?”  In 1955, Rudolf Flesch published an article titled, “Why Johnny Can’t Read- and what you can do about it.”  Both authors claimed that the state of children’s ability to read was declining due to boring Dick and Jane primers that children did not want to read.  Hersey suggested that Seuss write a primer and challenged him to only use 225 words out of a list of 348 high frequency words. It took Theodor 9 months to write “The Cat in the Hat” using 238 words from the list.**

**He also published some books under the name Theo LeSieg (Geisel spelled backwards).  These books were written by him but illustrated by someone else.**

**Dr. Seuss was not really a doctor.  Some say he used “Dr.” because his father always wanted him to practice medicine.  Others say he used “Dr.” because of the doctorate degree in English that he started at Oxford, but never finished.  “Seuss” is Theodor’s mother’s maiden name. It is Bavarian and is supposed to be pronounced “Zoice.”**

**Theodor Geisel never had any children of his own, but when he married his second wife in 1968, he inherited two step-children.**

**Themes/Motifs**

**Dr. Seuss’ books are largely whimsical stories characterized by outlandish creatures, and display a unique brand of humor.**

**Writing/Artistic Style**

**Dr. Seuss’ writing style is depicted by playful rhyme and rhythm, nonsense words, and tongue twisters.**

**Bibliography**

**1931- The Pocket Book of Boners**

**1937- And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street**

**1938- The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins**

**1939- The Seven Lady Godivas**

**1939- The King's Stilts**

**1940- Horton Hatches the Egg**

**1947- McElligot's Pool**

**1948- Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose**

**1949- Bartholomew and the Oobleck**

**1950- If I Ran the Zoo**

**1950- Gerald McBoing Boing**

**1950- Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories**

**1953- Scrambled Eggs Super!**

**1954- Horton Hears a Who!**

**1955- On Beyond Zebra!**

**1956- If I Ran the Circus**

**1957- The Cat in the Hat**

**1957- How the Grinch Stole Christmas!**

**1958- The Cat in the Hat Comes Back**

**1959- Happy Birthday to You!**

**1960- One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish**

**1960- Green Eggs and Ham**

**1961- The Sneetches and Other Stories**

**1962- Dr. Seuss's Sleep Book**

**1963- Dr. Seuss's ABC**

**1963- Hop on Pop**

**1964- The Cat in the Hat Beginner Book Dictionary**

**1965- Fox in Socks**

**1965- I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew**

**1967- The Cat in the Hat Song Book**

**1968- The Foot Book**

**1969- I Can Lick 30 Tigers Today! and Other Stories**

**1969- My Book about ME**

**1970- I Can Draw It Myself**

**1970- Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?: Dr. Seuss's Book of Wonderful Noises!**

**1971- The Lorax**

**1972- Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now!**

**1973- Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?**

**1973- The Shape of Me and Other Stuff**

**1974- There's a Wocket in My Pocket!**

**1974- Great Day for Up!**

**1975- Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!**

**1976- The Cat's Quizzer**

**1978- I Can Read with My Eyes Shut!**

**1979- Oh Say Can You Say?**

**1982- Hunches in Bunches**

**1984- The Butter Battle Book**

**1986- You're Only Old Once!**

**1987- I Am Not Going to Get Up Today!**

**1987- The Tough Coughs as He Ploughs the Dough**

**1990- Oh, the Places You'll Go!**

**Posthumous-**

**1995- Daisy-Head Mayzie**

**1996- Dr. Seuss's ABC: An Amazing Alphabet Book!**

**1996- My Many Colored Days**

**1997- The Big Green Book of Beginner Books**

**1997- Oh, Baby, the Places You'll Go!**

**1998- Hooray for Diffendoofer Day!**

**2004- Your Favorite Seuss**

**2011- The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories**

**2011- My Big Book of Beginner Books about Me**

**2014- Horton and the Kwuggerbug and More Lost Stories**

**2015- The Big Orange Book of Beginner Books**

**2015- What Pet Should I Get?**

**2017- The Big Aqua Book of Beginner Books**

**2018- Dr. Seuss's Book of Animals**

**2018- Dr. Seuss's Book of Colors**

**2019- Dr. Seuss's 123**

**2019- Horse Museum**

**Awards**

* **1945- “Hitler Lives,” a documentary he made but was not credited for, won an Academy Award.**
* **1947- Won an Academy Award for his documentary “Design for Death”**
* **Caldecott Honors Books**

* + **McElligot's Pool (1947)**
	+ **Bartholomew and the Oobleck (1949)**
	+ **If I Ran the Zoo (1950)**
* **1951- Won an Academy Award for his animated cartoon “Gerald McBoing-Boing”**
* **1977- Won an Emmy Award for “Halloween is Grinch Night”**
* **1980- Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal recognizing his "substantial and lasting contributions to children's literature."**
* **1982- Won an Emmy Award for “The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat”**
* **1984- Pulitzer Prize for his "contribution over nearly half a century to the education and enjoyment of America's children and their parents."**

**Other Work**

* **In 1927, Theodor Geisel got his start in drawing satirical cartoons for the magazine Judge.  Four months into the job he happened to write an ad for Flit insecticide that became wildly popular and gave him some notoriety.  He got a job writing campaigns with Flit’s parent company, Standard Oil, and wrote for them from 1927 into the 1950s.**
* **During WWII, he took a hiatus from writing children’s books to write political cartoons.**
* **In 1958 he founded Beginner Books, Inc. which became a division of Random House in 1960.**

**Criticism**

**Many of Dr. Seuss’ characters in his ads and political cartoons are considered to be racist caricatures.  He drew black people as savages with ape-like features. He drew Arabs as sultans and, in one ad, as a servant leading a white man on a camel.  And he drew the Japanese with squinty eyes and buck teeth. Although he considered himself a liberal Democrat and passionately opposed racism, he was an initial supporter of the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.**

**Notable Quotes**

* **When asked why he didn’t have children of his own, he quipped, “You make ’em, I’ll amuse ’em.”**
* **“Adults are obsolete children, and the hell with them.”**
* **“Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope.”**
* **“You’ll miss the best things if you keep your eyes shut.”**