The Readathon: Book Reviews: Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!!!

Thursday, March 2, 2017

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!!!

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The

more that you learn, the more places you'll go."

~Dr. Seuss

Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, was born on March 2, 1904. He was born in Springfield, Massachusetts to Theodore and Henrietta Geisel. His mother's maiden name was Seuss, and it was also his middle name. At Dartmouth College, he worked on the school's humor magazine called the Jack-O-Lantern, until he and his friends were caught having a drinking party, which was not allowed. His official position was terminated, but he continued to contribute under the name "Seuss." Ted's father wanted him to be a college professor, and so after Dartmouth he went to Oxford University in England. He became bored, though, and ended up touring Europe instead. While he was there he met Helen Palmer. They later married, and she became a children's book author. When he returned from Europe, he tried to be a cartoonist, and did publish a few things. However, he did work for Standard Oil for 15 years creating their advertising campaigns. Towards the beginning of WWII, he began contributing political cartoons to PM Magazine. He also worked on creating training movies. After working on the illustrations for a collection of children's sayings for Viking Press, which didn't do well, he wrote And To Think That I Saw it On Mulberry Street. It was rejected 27 times before Vanguard Press published it. It was his next book, The Cat in the Hat, that really began his career. It was a joint effort between Houghton-Mifflin and Random House, and they asked him to write a story using "only 225 'new-reader' vocabulary words."(1) He passed away on September 24, 1991. At the time of his death he had written and illustrated 44 children's books. Over 200 million copies of his books have been sold, and he was awarded "two Academy awards, two Emmy awards, a Peabody award and the Pulitzer Prize."(1)

Our home library has many Dr. Seuss books in it, and they have been read many, many times! My children have loved them, and the kids I taught at school also loved them. Dr. Seuss is beloved by many, and has contributed to my love of reading as well as my kids' love of reading. Thank you Dr. Seuss for your creativity, determination, and imagination!