caption death_date death_place years_active pseudonym birth_place nationality notableworks birth_date spouse signature genre image article_title birth_name occupation death_cause
geisel the hat '' , which inaugurated his beginner books in 1957 , holding '' the cat in 24 september 1991 la jolla , california , u.s. 1927 -- 1990 dr. ; lesieg , rosetta & nbsp ; stone , theophrastus & seuss nbsp ; seuss , theo & nbsp springfield , massachusetts , u.s. american '' -rrb- '' the cat in the hat '' -lrb- 1957 horton -rrb- '' how the grinch stole christmas ! '' -lrb- hears 1957 -rrb- '' green eggs and ham '' -lrb- 1960 a -rrb- '' the lorax '' -lrb- 1971 -rrb- who ! '' -lrb- 1954 2 march 1904 helen stone dimond -lrb- 1968 -- 91 -rrb- palmer geisel -lrb- 1927 -- 67 -rrb- audrey dr seuss signature.svg children 's literature ted geisel nywts 2 crop.jpg dr. seuss
 theodor seuss geisel writer artist , cartoonist , animator , book publisher , oral cancer
dr. seuss

theodor seuss geisel -lrb- ; march 2 , 1904 -- september 24 , 1991 -rrb- was an american writer and illustrator best known for authoring popular children 's books under the pen name dr. seuss -lrb- -rrb- .
his work includes several of the most popular children 's books of all time , selling over 600 million copies and being translated into more than 20 languages by the time of his death .
geisel adopted his `` dr. seuss '' pseudonym during his university studies at dartmouth college and the university of oxford .
after leaving oxford in 1927 he began his career as an illustrator and cartoonist for `` vanity fair '' , `` life '' , and various other publications .
he also worked as an illustrator for advertising campaigns , most notably for flit and standard oil , and as a political cartoonist for the new york newspaper `` pm '' .
he published his first children 's book , `` and to think that i saw it on mulberry street '' , in 1937 .
during world war ii he worked in an animation department of the united states army , where he produced several short films , including `` design for death '' , which later won the 1947 academy award for documentary feature .
after the war geisel focused on his children 's books , writing classics such as `` if i ran the zoo '' -lrb- 1950 -rrb- , `` horton hears a who ! ''
-lrb- 1955 -rrb- , `` if i ran the circus '' -lrb- 1956 -rrb- , `` the cat in the hat '' -lrb- 1957 -rrb- , `` how the grinch stole christmas ! ''
-lrb- 1957 -rrb- , and `` green eggs and ham '' -lrb- 1960 -rrb- .
he published over 60 books during his career , which have spawned numerous adaptations , including 11 television specials , four feature films , a broadway musical and four television series .
he won the lewis carroll shelf award in 1958 for `` horton hatches the egg '' and again in 1961 for `` and to think that i saw it on mulberry street '' .
geisel 's birthday , march 2 , has been adopted as the annual date for national read across america day , an initiative on reading created by the national education association .
