HAPPY BIRTHDAY – Dr Seuss, born 2 March 1904
Theodor Geisel holding the Cat in the Hat in 1957
“Adults are just outdated children”
Theodor Seuss Geisel has given pleasure to millions of children with his quirky, rhyming stories. He wrote 46 books and recently there was news that some of his unpublished stories might now be published too. His works have been turned into films and a musical, and his birthday on March 2nd has been adopted as the National Read Across America Day.
Seuss was a perfectionist, often spending as much as a year working just on one book, until words and pictures were exactly right. He started work as a cartoonist and illustrator, designing advertisements during the Depression. It was on a trip to Europe, travelling on an ocean liner, that he was inspired by the motion of the ship and the churning of the engines to try his hand at rhyme. The result was And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street, his first book published in 1937 (after being rejected by over 20 publishers). His career then took off.
My own favourites amongst his books were Green Eggs and Ham and Horton Hatches the Egg. In 1954 Life magazine published a report on illiteracy problems amongst children. A list was created of 250 words that children really should know how to spell and pronounce, and Geisel was challenged to produce a book containing only those words, which was not boring for them to read. The result of that challenge was The Cat in the Hat.
Although he spent his career writing for children. Geisel never had children of his own. He died in 1991, at the age of 87. Why not celebrate his birthday by reading a good story to a child?
Did you love to read Dr Seuss? Tell me your thoughts in the comment area below.
And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street by Dr Seuss
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