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THEODOR GEISEL SEUSS Illustrator & Author by: Jamie Acker

Illustrator & Author

Dr. Seuss

Theodor Geisel Seuss Illustrator & Author

Illustrator & Author

Dr. Seuss

DEDICATED with love

To My Children: may art feel your heart when we are apart.

Illustrator & Author

Dr. Seuss

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Index

Famous Quotes Pages

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Theodore Seuss: Helvetcia Nue Light 9

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Illustrator & Author

Dr. Seuss

Theodor Geisel Seuss Illustrator & Author by: Jamie Acker

Illustrator & Author

TABLE OF

CONTENTS

Dr. Seuss

CHAPTER Brief Biography of Theodor Geisel Seuss

6.

How The Grinch Stole Christmas

2.

The Book That Made History

7.

Horton Hears a Who!

3.

The Cat In The Hat

8.

4.

Green Eggs and Ham

9.

5.

Oh The Places You’ll Go!

1.

10.

Illustration Work

Awards and Honors

Index

Illustrator & Author

Dr. Seuss

CHAPTER 1 Brief Biography of Theodor Seuss

Dr. Seuss was a storyteller in the grandest sense of the word. Not only did he tell fantastical tales of far-away places but he also gave us a unique visual language that carried his stories to new

heights of artistic expression. Surrealism provided the foundation from which he built his career,

but like a launch pad sitting idle just before liftoff, surrealism was soon to be engulfed in the flames of ridiculous fun and its launch tower thrown to the ground with each new editorial cartoon, magazine cover, painting, or children’s book. It was that explosive energy that thrust Ted’s works into otherworldly places, taking young and old alike on a ride that would become a critical reference

point for most children from 1937 on, as well as for the adults who raised them. Nearly everyone has a significant Dr. Seuss memory. Many of today’s top visual artists, poets, filmmakers, and au-

thors cite Ted as one of their greatest influences. Indeed, what Walt Disney was to entertainment, Theodor Seuss Geisel was to art and literature.

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Illustrator & Author

CHILDHOOD Ted settled on a visual vernacular early in his life that proved to be a powerful vehicle from which to deliver artistically driven media. From early advertising and editorial cartoons to seventy years

of paintings, drawings, and sculpture, Dr. Seuss’s horned, whiskered, and winged creatures played while contemplating the issues of the world within deco-inspired landscapes of pure nonsense.

These iconographic images became the basis of Ted’s most well-known books for children, delivering messages on such heady topics as racial tolerance, environmental stewardship, nuclear war,

and the vital importance of unimpeded childhood fun. Ridiculous fun permeated everything—a rocket’s plume engulfing even his own life story. When explaining the “logical insanity” of his

work, Ted said, “If I start with a two-headed animal, I must never waiver from that concept. There must be two hats in the closet, two toothbrushes in the bathroom, and two sets of spectacles on

the night table.” That consistency reveals itself across the spectrum of Ted’s life and work. Yet here, with this major survey of his paintings, drawings, and sculpture, the truth of his talent rests undeniably in the power of his unique artistic vision.

G E N E RATI O N S Beginning in 1876, two generations of Geisels made their living in Springfield, Massachusetts,

as master brewers. At the time of patriarch Theodor Geisel’s death on December 5, 1919, he and Ted’s father had built the family company into one of the largest brewing concerns in New En-

gland, producing 300,000 barrels a year. Six weeks later, when Prohibition took effect on January

18, 1920, their business closed forever and ended Theodor Robert Geisel’s brief tenure at the helm.

While Ted’s father dabbled in real estate during the interim, it wasn’t until 1931 that T.R. would begin a thirty-year salaried position as Springfield’s superintendent of parks. The Geisels were

already a prominent Springfield family when T.R. was appointed to an honorary position on the

parks board in 1909. Under the board’s supervision was the magnificent centerpiece of the system, the 500-acre Forest Park. Within that grand expanse was the fledgling Springfield Zoo, where

Ted’s father would often take him, both enjoying the behind-the-scenes access afforded by T.R.’s

voluntary service on the board. This zoo was a beloved part of Ted’s childhood. If his father wasn’t

able to accompany him and his sketchpad there, he would go with his mother or his sister, Marnie.

Early on, Ted’s mother became his “accomplice in crime,” encouraging him to draw animal caricatures on the plaster walls of his bedroom.

Dr. Seuss

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DARTMOUTH The Geisels were already a prominent Springfield family when T.R. was appointed to an honorary position on the parks board in 1909. Under the board’s supervision was the magnificent center-

piece of the system, the 500 acre Forest Park. Within that grand expanse was the fledgling Springfield Zoo, where Ted’s father would often take him, both enjoying the behind-the-scenes access

afforded by T.R.’s voluntary service on the board. This zoo was a beloved part of Ted’s childhood.

If his father wasn’t able to accompany him and his sketchpad there, he would go with his mother or his sister, Marnie. Early on, Ted’s mother became his “accomplice in crime,” encouraging him

to draw animal caricatures on the plaster walls of his bedroom. Only later, when T.R. became the superintendent of parks, did he also become an unexpected resource, who now aided and abetted his son’s artistic efforts. Zoo animals that had met their demise lived on as their bills, horns, and

antlers were shipped to Ted’s New York apartment to become exotic beaks and headdresses on his bizarre taxidermy sculptures.

Zoo animals that had met their demise lived on as their bills, horns, and antlers were shipped to

Ted’s New York apartment to become exotic beaks and headdresses on his bizarre taxidermy sculp-

tures. The Chicago attorney and philanthropist Kenneth Montgomery (Dartmouth ’25) said it best,

“He was not gregarious in the sense of hail-fellow-well-met; there was no sense of self-importance about him. When he walked into a room, it was like a magician’s act.

Birds flew out of his hands, and endless bright scarves and fireworks. Everything became brighter, happier, funnier. And he didn’t try. Everything Ted did seemed to be a surprise, even to him.”

Ted’s parents loved him deeply, reveling in his random wit, his cheerfulness and his genuine

concern for others. To them, he was a “personality” to be encouraged. As a result, Ted grew into a

devoted son and a faithful friend, coveting only a close circle of lifelong relationships people with whom he felt comfortable. His friends saw him as a treasured compatriot with whom to lightheartedly walk through life.

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Illustrator & Author

Dr. Seuss

CAREER

Ted was only twenty-three when he traveled from Springfield to New York City looking for his

big break. He wrote to his Dartmouth friend Whit Campbell on April 15, 1927, from the Hotel Woodstock, “I have tramped all over this bloody town and been tossed out of Boni & Liveright,

Harcourt Brace, Paramount Pictures, Metro Goldwyn, three advertising agencies, Life, Judge and three public conveniences.” Three short months later, Ted’s first professional sale, a cartoon The

Saturday Evening Post purchased for twenty-five dollars and published on July 16, 1927, was all

the encouragement he needed to permanently pack his bag and board a train for New York. Before

summer’s end, Ted was sharing a one-room walkup with his Dartmouth buddy John C. Rose. Rose knew “Beef ” Vernon, another Dartmouth man who sold advertising for Judge, and brokered an

interview for Ted with the editor, Norman Anthony. It was a Judge cartoon in which Ted used Flit bug spray in the punch line that led to a seventeen-year Flit advertising campaign with Standard

Oil of New Jersey. Ted’s catchphrase “Quick, Henry, the Flit!” soon entered the American vernacular and Flit sales increased wildly. By the time Ted returned to Dartmouth in the spring of 1928 for a reunion, his celebrity was duly noted by friends and professors. With the success of his Flit

advertising campaign, Ted realized a quick and bright introduction into many of the day’s leading periodicals, with editorial cartoons and advertising illustrations running in Vanity Fair, Life, Redbook, and Liberty magazines.

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Illustrator & Author

Dr. Seuss

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CHAPTER 2 The Book that Made History

And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, published in 1937, was Geisel’s first book. The-

odor S. Geisel lived on Fairfield Street in the Forest Park section of the City of Homes. Most of

Geisel’s books have a connection to Springfield because his childhood here was key in forming the images that appear in his books. “His childhood was very important – the impressions, the people he met, the things he saw,” McLain said. “They had a major impact on him.” Says Guy A. Mc-

Lain, director of the Lyman & Merrie Wood Museum of Springfield History. Where people come from – including the street, house and room where they first lived – is often at the core of who

they become, says Northampton-based children’s author Richard Michelson. The book teaches a quintessential lesson:

“Open your eyes to the mysterious and wonderful, the magical and the imaginative. It’s out there. You just have to look,” says children’s book author Jane Yolen, of Hatfield. Geisel “was very involved with everything

growing up and paid a great deal of attention and began to see other things in everything he saw as a child,” Audrey Geisel said. Geisel seemed to have fun even with the details of the Mulberry

Street book. For example, the sign post in the book marking Mulberry and Bliss streets could not

exist in Springfield because the streets do not intersect. “He loved little inside jokes,” McLain said.

“People in Springfield would know Mulberry and Bliss did not intersect.” Bliss Street was named

for a prominent local family, and Geisel might have included the street name in the book because he knew someone in the family.

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Illustrator & Author

INSPIRATION It was said that “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street” came from the rhythm of the

steamship engine that “got into (Geisel’s) head” on a trip home from Europe. It’s that rhythm that

makes the book so appealing, so enduring, so easily recited. “It’s designed for children, and children can respond to the rhythmic lines.

“He wrote the lines of the book to reflect the rhythm of the engines hat sounded something like chug-chug-CHUG-chug-chug-CHUG-chug-chug-CHUG-chug-chug-CHUG.” Everyone can, especially children,” McLain said. “Like nursery rhymes, we carry those rhythms in

our hearts. Geisel’s Mulberry Street rhymes include: “With a roar of its motor an airplane appears and dumps out confetti while everyone cheers;” and “‘Nothing,’ I said, growing red as a beet, ‘But

a plain horse and wagon on Mulberry Street.’” Audrey Geisel said her husband didn’t get back to Springfield often, but when he did, he found the attention “kind of overwhelming.” “He never

stood out, waving, saying, ‘Look at me,’” she said. But he knew he had reached a degree of recognition, and “he enjoyed that and took it in stride but was modest all the time.” These days, when Dr. Seuss’ view of children’s literature has become time-honored and beloved, it is often difficult to

understand how revolutionary it was when it first appeared, Michelson said. “He brought a spirit of mischievous fun, poetic wordplay and artistic exuberance to a field that was dominated by heavy-handed moral lessons and staid imagery.

Dr. Seuss

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ILLUSTRATIONS I Michelson owns R. Michelson Galleries in Northampton, which represents the Dr. Seuss estate and is considered his “home gallery.” The gallery sells his original drawings plus the limited-edition, estate-produced fine art, sculpture and book illustrations. The Dr. Seuss works of art are among the most popular works exhibited there. “Most people are familiar with the illustrations from his well-known books, but less well-known is his ‘secret art,’ which are paintings that he did outside of the published books,” Michelson explained. “They have the same whimsy and social commentary, though often with a sharper edge.

“Little kids instinctively love the colors and patterns and rhymes, teenagers still f ind him politically and socially transgressive, and adults f ind their nostalgia tempered with a new appreciation of his craft.”

Aside from the books, Dr. Seuss was an amazing artist, well-versed with – and often ahead of – the art movements of his time.” Michelson enjoys watching families come into the gallery and bond over their love of Seuss in a way that he said is rare for any other artist. Michelson said.

“Seuss taps into our basic humanity and remains politically astute while covering it all with the sheer joy of being alive.

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Illustrator & Author

Dr. Seuss

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CHAPTER 3 The Cat In The Hat

The Cat in the Hat, perhaps the defining book of Ted’s career, developed as part of a unique joint venture between Houghton Mifflin (Vanguard Press) and Random House. Houghton Mifflin

asked Ted to write and illustrate a children’s primer using only 225 “new-reader” vocabulary words.

Because he was under contract to Random House, Random House obtained the trade publication rights, and Houghton Mifflin kept the school rights. With the release of The Cat in the Hat, Ted became the definitive children’s book author and illustrator. There were two kids, Sally and Sam, whose mother was out. They were having a very dreary day, and then were graced with a surprise

visit from a stranger, the Cat. He comes in, assures them their mom won’t mind, and makes a very big mess. Before the Cat leaves, he cleans up his mess, and when Sam and Sally’s mother returns home, nothing is amiss. The story ends with the question “What would YOU do, if your mother asked YOU?”

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VALUABLE LESSON Beware of who you let into your house. The Cat in the Hat is a book where an eccentric stranger (who’s a cat!) comes into the house of two young children, Sally and Sam, who are having a very dull day. Their mother is out, and when the Cat comes in, he reassures the kids that their mother

won’t mind him or his tricks! This can offer an opportunity to talk about the first question set. You can discuss what trust is and who you can trust. It will be a concept that the kids will have been

drilled about quite frequently, but hopefully the book will offer them a new vantage point.. They’ll

be able to further develop why they have their opinions, not just what is right action in a strange situation.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

TRUST LYING WRONGNESS RESPONSIBLITY SOCIAL EXPECTATIONS

Dr. Seuss books in general are filled with valuable lessons, and The Cat in the Hat is no exception.

I don’t care if he is flashy, funny and fun, if you let the Cat in the Hat into your home, you are

going to have a mess to deal with. Whether an employee, partner or investor, focus on substance,

not flash. Yes, the Cat in the Hat will help you get noticed but as they inevitably create problems in their pursuit of excitement, you will discover that few Cats in the Hat have a Thing 1 and Thing 2 to clean up their messes.

Dr. Seuss

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“AFTER 50 YEARS THE CAT IN THE HAT REMAINS THE MOST ICONIC”

U.S. News began the Seuss segment, The Birth of a Famous Feline, with this accolade, “Greece had Zeus America has Seuss,” and continued in part, “In the 50 years since The Cat in the Hat

exploded onto the children’s book scene, Theodor Seuss Geisel has become a central character in

the American literary mythology, sharing the pantheon with the likes of Mark Twain and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Of his many imaginative stories, The Cat in the Hat remains the most iconic.” Ted

Geisel had been writing children’s books for twenty years when The Cat in the Hat first stepped

into our lives and onto the world stage in 1957, literally supercharging his career. Geisel’s quirky Cat put him on the fast track to becoming a force in children’s literacy due in part to the book’s

origins in an emerging philosophy of phonetic learning. Not only was the vocabulary largely taken from a list of 220 beginner’s words but Ted crafted the story in anapestic tetrameter, marking

out a cadence that was easy for young readers to grasp. Using this model, Ted, Helen, to whom

he would be married for forty years, and Phyllis Cerf, the wife of the Random House president

Bennett Cerf, would go on to found Beginner Books at Random House. Over time The Cat in the Hat became more than a recurring character for Ted; it also morphed into his alter ego, surfacing

repeatedly in his surrealist thematic cat paintings. Whether he was a Surly Cat being ejected by an Edvard Munchian screamer, a member of the Pinkish and Greenish iconic twosome dispensing a

magic dose of mischief, the Clouseauian inspector sleuthing a felon, or the Green Cat with Lights attributed to fool unsuspecting friends, Ted’s intentions went far deeper. Disguised as a potpourri of nonsense, these works combined his vivid imagination with a thoughtful understanding of

human nature. Truths are whispered from these playful paintings and, if examined closely, one can see Ted winking from every whiskered face.

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Illustrator & Author

Dr. Seuss

CHAPTER 3 Green Eggs And Ham

Green Eggs and Ham is a best-selling and critically acclaimed children’s book by Dr. Seuss, first

published on August 12, 1960. As of 2001, according to Publishers Weekly, it was the fourth

best-selling English-language children’s book of all time. The story has appeared in several adaptations starting with 1973’s Dr. Seuss on the Loose starring Paul Winchell as the voice of both

Sam-I-Am and the first-person narrating man. As Seuss develops the rhyme of the book, he uses the scheme as a loose outline to form the ever-popular Dr. Seuss tone that is hard to avoid when

reading his works. Seuss builds the story with complexity as he repeats everything each time SamI-am offers a new way to try green eggs and ham. The vocabulary of the book text consists of just 50 different words and was the result of a bet between Seuss and his publisher that he could not complete an entire book without exceeding that limit.

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50 WORDS 1. a 2. am 3. and 4. anywhere 5. are 6. be 7. boat 8. box 9.car 10. could 11. dark 12. do 13. eat 14. eggs 15. fox 16. goat g 17.good 18. green 19. ham 20. here 21. house 22. I 23. if 24. in 25. let

Dr. Seuss

26. like 27. may 28.me 29. mouse 30. not 31. on 32. or 33. rain 34. Sam 35. say, 36. see 37. so 38. thank 39. that 40. the 41. them 42. there 43. they 44. train, 45.tree 46. try 47. will 48. with 49. would 50.you

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STORY LINE Seuss builds the story with complexity as he repeats everything each time Sam-I-am offers a new

way to try green eggs and ham. This quote from pages 30 and 31 highlight Seuss’s use of repetition, rhyme, and story development. In a classroom, this work could be used to teach rhyme, especially since Seuss, while talking about non-sense things like green eggs and ham, uses no non-sense words to create his iconic rhyme.

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QUOTE I am Sam Sam I am That Sam-I-am!

That Sam-I-am!

I do not like that Sam-I-am!

Do you like green eggs and ham?

I do not like them, Sam-I-am.

I do not like green eggs and ham.

Would you like them here or there?

I would not like them here or there.

I would not like them anywhere.

I do not like green eggs and ham.

I do not like them, Sam-I-am.

Would you like them in a house?

Would you like them with a mouse?

Green Eggs and Ham

Theodor Seuss

Dr. Seuss

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Illustrator & Author

Dr. Seuss

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CHAPTER 4 O h , T h e P l a c e s Yo u ’ l l G o !

Oh, the Places You’ll Go begins with “Congratulations!” It is a celebration of accomplishment and

exciting things to come. The first illustration is on an all white page with only a small young boy

dressed in yellow walking confidently forward towards the next page. He is described only as “you.”

The book was published in 1990 by Random House and was his last book. Soon our hero is in

the lead with all the other balloons close behind. The hills are colorful square patches rolling off

into the distance. Then Seuss slams on the breaks. Our hero’s balloon is stuck on a branch and he’s watching everyone else fly by, leaving him behind with a look of surprise on his face. The hills are now a somber blue. The final page ends just as the beginning started. With our hero in the exact same pose on an all white page confidently headed toward the future.

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STORY LINE Reading Oh, the Places You’ll Go! is like climbing into a car with Seuss behind the wheel. He

drives the story forwards, slows it down, speeds it back up, and even slams on the breaks. This is

done not only through the physical position of the hero, but also by the rhythm of his poetry, as

well as, with color theory and line movement. It can definitely be said that Seuss does this in all of

his books. His ability to manipulate the reader’s emotion into not only wanting, but needing to flip the page is why he is such a successful writer. Oh, the Places You’ll Go! is merely a culmination of all his tricks of story telling.

Dr. Seuss

We can see his use of color theory in the contrast between the gloomy dark blues and purples he uses when the hero is lost compared to the bright orange cave when he is ready to face up to his challenges. We see it again when there are soft pastels filling out the page as he heads gleefully

toward his future in a hot air balloon, but then the page is almost void of color as he gets hung up on a bare black tree with only deep blue hills below him. We read left to right so having the main

character headed toward the right keeps the flow of the story moving so that we are excited to see where he ends up when we turn the page.

The few moments that he is not turned to the right make those pages all the more powerful. When his back is turned to us we, as readers, spend a little extra time marveling at the rest of the page as he does. When he is facing backward toward the left we hesitate to turn the page in case we lose him forcing us to spend a somber moment reflecting.

Through all of these aspects of story telling Seuss plays with our heartstrings in a way that reaches

children as well as adults of any age. This story is a heartfelt adventure that each of us goes through as a human being and also one that we go through several times in our lives. Whether we go to

a new school or a new job or move to a new city, every time an aspect of our lives changes we go through this story in some way. We try, we succeed, we lead, we follow, we fail, we wait, we try again. This repetition in our own lives makes this a book worth reading over and over.

Dr. Seuss, when pressed during interviews, always said that, the message his books had in common was “hope.” This was never more evident than in Oh, the Places You’ll Go! For this final book,

Ted gathered his favorite unpublished sketches, pinned them up on the cork walls of his studio

and then set about finding a way to make them connect. The result was the most powerful graphic work he had done in many years.

When Oh, the Places You’ll Go! was published in 1990, it quickly appeared on The New York

Times “adult” best-seller list, where it remained for more than two years. Ted’s great joy was getting Random House’s weekly ranking in the Sunday Times Book Review. After 1.5 million copies had been sold, Ted exclaimed: “This proves it! I no longer write for children. I write for people!”

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Illustrator & Author

HISTORY Reading Oh, the Places You’ll Go! is like climbing into a car with Seuss behind the wheel. He

drives the story forwards, slows it down, speeds it back up, and even slams on the breaks. This is

done not only through the physical position of the hero, but also by the rhythm of his poetry, as

well as, with color theory and line movement. It can definitely be said that Seuss does this in all of

his books. His ability to manipulate the reader’s emotion into not only wanting, but needing to flip the page is why he is such a successful writer. Oh, the Places You’ll Go! is merely a culmination of all his tricks of story telling.

We can see his use of color theory in the contrast between the gloomy dark blues and purples he uses when the hero is lost compared to the bright orange cave when he is ready to face up to his challenges. We see it again when there are soft pastels filling out the page as he heads gleefully

toward his future in a hot air balloon, but then the page is almost void of color as he gets hung up on a bare black tree with only deep blue hills below him. We read left to right so having the main

character headed toward the right keeps the flow of the story moving so that we are excited to see where he ends up when we turn the page.

The few moments that he is not turned to the right make those pages all the more powerful. When his back is turned to us we, as readers, spend a little extra time marveling at the rest of the page as he does. When he is facing backward toward the left we hesitate to turn the page in case we lose him forcing us to spend a somber moment reflecting.

Dr. Seuss

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Dr. Seuss

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PORTFOLIO COLLECTION For this final book, Ted gathered his favorite unpublished sketches, pinned them up on the cork

walls of his studio and then set about finding a way to make them connect. The result was the most

powerful graphic work he had done in many years. Ted’s perennial best-selling book, Oh, the Places You’ll Go!, has sold more than 11,000,000 copies to date. The Arabic numbered print edition for this portfolio is limited to just 295 copies. Nine expertly crafted works, adapted from Dr. Seuss’s

original concept drawings, are all presented within a specially designed collector’s case, alongside an introductory letter from Audrey Geisel, a rare photograph of Ted in his studio, and excerpts from his original manuscript.

In total, this commemorative portfolio includes: •

(9) 14” x 20” fine art pigment prints on paper with deckled edges

•

Dr. Seuss’s original notes for Oh, the Places You’ll Go!

• • • •

(9) corresponding acid-free vellums including handwriting adapted from Introduction letter from Audrey Geisel

A rare photograph of Theodor Seuss Geisel in his studio

25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of Oh, the Places You’ll Go! book

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Illustrator & Author

UNPUBLISHED SKETCHES For this final book, Ted gathered his favorite unpublished sketches, pinned them up on the cork

walls of his studio and then set about finding a way to make them connect. The result was the most powerful graphic work he had done in many years.

Dr. Seuss

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Dr. Seuss

F A M O U S Q U O T E (S) Congratulations!

Today is your day.

You’re off to Great Places!

You’re off and away!

You have brains in your head.

You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself any direction you choose.

You’re on your own. And you know what you know.

And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.

You’ll look up and down streets. Look ‘em over with care.

About some you will say, “I don’t choose to go there.”

With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet, you’re too smart to go down any not-so-good street.

And you may not find any you’ll want to go down.

In that case, of course, you’ll head straight out of town.

It’s opener there in the wide open air.

Out there things can happen and frequently do to people as brainy and footsy as you.

And then things start to happen, don’t worry. Don’t stew.

Just go right along.

You’ll start happening too.

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OH, THE PLACES YOU’LL GO!

Theodor Seuss

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Illustrator & Author

Dr. Seuss

CHAPTER 6

How The Grinch Stole Christmas

“How The Grinch Stole Christmas” is written and illustrated by Dr. Theodore Seuss. The book was published by Random House in 1957 and has been a favorite for decades. The National Education Association named it as “Teacher’s Top 100 Picture Books for Children. “How

The Grinch Stole Christmas” also ranked 61 among the Teacher’s Top 100 Picture Books for

Children in a survey published by the School Library Journal. That list also included five other

books published by Dr. Theodore Seuss. The “School Library Journal is a monthly magazine that submits reviews for school librarians, public librarians who work with children. Articles and reviews cover topics relatable for preschoolers to fourth-graders and up to teenagers.

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CHRISTMAS

DEBUT

Dr. Seuss started to write the book in the beginning of 1957 shortly after he completed The Cat in The Hat. The book took almost a year to complete due with the founding of Beginner Books

happening that same year. The book was finally completed by Helen Geisel; Dr. Theodore Seuss

Wife in May 1957. The book debuted just on time for Christmas. A book version was published

by Random House and in an issue of Redbook magazine. Geisel dedicated the book to Theodor “Teddy” Owens, the one-year-old son of his niece, Peggy Owens. According to Geisel “I got hung up getting the Grinch out of the mess. I got into a situation where I sounded like a sec-

ond-rate preacher. Finally in desperation, without making any statement, I showed the Grinch and the Who’s together at the table. I made a pun of the Grinch carving the ‘roast beast. I had

gone through thousands of religious choices, and then after three months it came out like that.”

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PLOT The story begins with the main character the “Grinch” wanting to put an end to Christmas. He

starts to steal all things in relation to Christmas out of the homes in a town named Whoville on Christmas Eve. Despite the “Grinch” efforts, Whoville’s inhabitants still celebrate the holiday, so the “Grinch” returns everything that he stole and is the guest of honor at the Who’s Christmas dinner.

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COLLABORATIONS • • •

Dr. Seuss

How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, a 1957 book by Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel)

Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (TV special), a 1966 cartoon adaptation of the book made by Warner Bros. and directed by Chuck Jones

Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas (film), a 2000 film based on the book, starring Jim Carrey and directed by Ron Howard

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F A M O U S Q U O T E (S) “Every Who down in Whoville liked Christmas a lot, but the Grinch, who lived just north of Whoville did not.

The Grinch hated Christmas the whole Christmas season. Now, please don’t ask why; no one quite knows the reason.

It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight. Or it could be that his head wasn’t screwed on just right.

But I think that the most likely reason of all may have been that his heart was two sizes too small. But, whatever the reason, his heart or his shoes, he stood there on Christmas Eve hating the Whos.

Staring down from his cave, with a sour grinchy frown, at the warm, lighted windows below in their town. For he knew that every Who down in Whoville beneath was busy now, hanging a holly who wreath.

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags.

It came without packages, boxes or bags.

And he puzzled and puzzled ‘till his puzzler was sore.

Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before.

What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store.

What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.”

HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS!

Theodor Seuss

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CHAPTER 7 Horton Hears a Who

Theodore Seuss started to work on “Horton Hears a Who!” in the fall of 1953. The message of the book is to educate children on the importance of treating everyone equally. Theodore also based

the book of his experience when visiting Japan, when he was faced with hardships during World War II. Theodore Seuss used this book as an allegory for the American post-war occupation of the country. “Horton Hears a Who!” was dedicated the book to a Japanese friend.

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STORY LINE The book tells the story of Horton the Elephant, who hears a small speck of dust talking to him.

Horton realizes that the voice was a small person lives on the speck and places it on a clover.

Horton spent the book vowing to protect it. He later discovers that the speck is actually a tiny

planet, home to a community called Whoville, where microscopic creatures called Who’s live. The Mayor of Whoville asks Horton to protect them from harm and Horton happily agrees to.

In his mission to protect the speck, Horton is ridiculed and harassed by the other animals in

the jungle for believing in something that they are unable to see or hear. Horton is criticized by a sour kangaroo and her little kangaroo in her pouch for his devotion to protect Whoville. He is later bullied by a group of monkeys and loosed the clover that is the home of the Whoville

people. Horton convinced the town of Whoville to make noise so he can prove to the animals that Whoville existed.

Dr. Seuss

INSPIRATION The main character in the book is Horton, the Elephant inspired by The Horton Principle. The

Horton Principle is a design rule that means “authenticate what is being meant, not what is being

sad. The Horton Principle is used to code and send authentication codes to another cryptographic system.

Pro Life groups adopted Horton the Elephant has a recurring phrase, “a person’s a person, no

matter how small” to support their views on abortion. Audrey, Theodore Seuss’s widow was not

happy about this and threatened to sue because her husband did not appreciate when people used his characters or material to persuade their point of view.

FILM AND TELEVISION •

Horton Hatches the Egg was made into a 10 minute cartoon for Looney Tunes in 1942

•

Horton Hears a Who! was made into a 1970 animated TV special directed by Chuck Jones

•

created by Bob Clampett. This was the first cinematic adaptation of a Dr. Seuss book. and a 2008 CGI feature film by Blue Sky Studios.

Both Horton books are part of the main plot in the musical Seussical. Horton is one of the main characters.

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CHARACTERS •

Sour Kangaroo: A local bully who does not believe that the Whos and Whoville exist, and attempts to destroy its locus in the hope of convincing Horton. Voiced by Carol Burnett in the film.

•

Baby Kangaroo: Sour Kangaroo’s young joey, who supports his mother in all her speeches.

In the film, his name is changed to Rudy and he actually believes in the Whos. He’s voiced

by Josh Flitter in the film.

•

Mayor of Whoville: The mayor of the microscopic world of Whoville; Horton’s principal

contact therein, and the source of information thereof. In the film, the mayor is named “Ned McDodd” and is the latest of a long lineage of mayors, and is the father of 96 daughters and a son. In the animated special, he is replaced with a scientist character named Dr. Hoovey.

Voiced by Steve Carell in the film.

•

The Wickersham Brothers: A group of gibbon-like monkeys who steal the flower upon

which Whoville rests. They have a very large family, who help bind Horton. The major brother in the group is voiced by Dan Fogler in the film.

•

Vlad Vladikoff: A black eagle that takes the flower that Horton protects and drops it in a

huge patch of identical flowers. In the animated special of Horton Hears a Who!, his name

is changed to Whizzer McWoff and he appears more like a vulture than an eagle. Voiced by Will Arnett in the film adaptation, and made t to resemble a condor.

•

Whovillians: One of the Whos: a small boy who, when exhorted by the Mayor, announces Whoville’s existence to the larger world by shouting “YOPP”. In Seussical, and in the later film, he is the Mayor’s son; in the latter, voiced by Jesse McCartney.

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F A M O U S Q U O T E (S) “Please don’t harm all my little folks, who have as much right to live as us bigger folks do!”

Just look at him walk with that speck on that flower!” should I put this speck down?.”

If I do, these small persons may come to great harm. I can’t put it down.

And I won’t! After all a person’s a person.

No matter how small.”

That one small extra Yopp put it over!

Finally, at last! From that speck on that clover their voices were heard!

They rang out clear and clean.

And the elephant smiled.

Do you see what I mean?

They’ve proved they are persons, not matter how small.

And their whole world was saved by the Smallest of ALL! How true! Yes, how true, said the big kangaroo.

And, from now on, you know what I’m planning to do? From now on, I’m going to protect them with you!”

Horton Hears a Who!

Theodor Seuss

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CHAPTER 8 Famous Illustration Work

Dr. Seuss’s illustration work incorporated compact pen-and-ink line drawings filled with bold swatches of flat color. Those colors drove his stories, and Ted was meticulous about their selection.

Early in his career, however, budgetary and technical constraints often dictated that his books be executed in very few of those colors. The exception was a small collection of books in which Ted was able to explore a broader palette. In those instances he created elaborate paintings more reminiscent of the work he made privately for his own pleasure. Each page became a fully developed painting that moved the visual experience of those books beyond what had been laid out in Seuss’s pen-and-ink works. The resulting three “painted” books inluded: 1.

2.

3.

The Seven Lady Godivas (1939) McElligot’s Pool (1947) Happy Birthday To You! (1959)

McElligot’s Pool was finished pencil and gouache on board and Happy Birthday To You! is painted in gouache to stand out as artistic highlights from Dr. Seuss’s book career.

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ART DECO ERA The international design style art deco originated near the outset of World War I and remained popular through the end of World War II (circa 1915-1945). As this time

frame fluctuated dramatically between years of want and plenty, art deco was an elegant,

contemporary interpretation of the standards and expectations, fascinations and frivolities of each culture in which it developed. The paintings that Ted Geisel created during this period reflected that roller coaster of dreams and desires.

Many of Ted’s paintings of the 1930s and ’40s used an artistic element derived from his most

successful work as a commercial illustrator. Referred to here as Geisel’s Deco Period, these years allude to his instinctive use of saturated black backgrounds combined with art deco elements

often found within the architecture of his artworks. Ultimately, he created a new visual language that accentuated the muted pallets so characteristic of this period. From signature smoke rings billowing from Seussian mountaintops to architectural labyrinths decorating otherworldly

landscapes, elements such as these reflected Ted Geisel’s creative interpretation of the art deco movement.

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P E N AND I N K Drawing was innate for Ted. He doodled on notepads all the way through high school and

college. During the hard-pressed early 1930s, Ted supported himself by selling cartoons to Life, College Humor, Vanity Fair, and Ballyhoo. In the early 1940s, the daily newspaper PM began publishing his political cartoons. By the time he was illustrating his children’s books, his deft final-line drawings seemed effortless.

One of the distinguishing elements of many of those early drawings was the use of saturated

black India ink for the background, visually outlining and popping the imagery forward. This

technique naturally carried over into Ted’s more sophisticated paintings. Like Norman Rockwell, Ted Geisel created every rough sketch, preliminary drawing, final line drawing, and finished work for each page of every project he illustrated.

LA JOLLA Ted Geisel fell in love with La Jolla on his first visit in 1928. Twenty years later, he began looking for a permanent California home was a place where the climate would allow him. He would walk around outside in my pajamas. In a one day search, Ted purchased La Jolla’s Tower, a rundown

observation structure atop Mount Soledad, which had become a lover’s-lane destination, its walls carved with the initials of hundreds of couples. Ted built his permanent home around the Tower, making it his studio.

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The result was the La Jolla Birdwomen series, a spicy collection of eleven known paintings with

lyrical titles, works that could have sprung only from the mind of a genial witness; My Petunia Can

Lick Your Geranium, Not Speaking, Martini Bird, Gosh! Do I Look as Old as All That!, View from a Window of a Rented Beach Cottage, and Oh I’d love to go to the party but I’m absolutely dead.

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Becoming enmeshed in the social comings and goings of La Jolla gave Ted a lush playground

for concocting not only elaborate gags on his stylish neighbors but also for teasing them artistically. As one of the few men in town who worked from home, Ted lightheartedly considered himself a “bird watcher on the social scene,� always looking to create gentle spoofs of his chic female friends taken up in their whirl of luncheons, parties, and charity balls.

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SELF PORTRAITS Self-portraits are rare and highly prized portrayals that reveal a unique inner vision that only the artist can provide. Theodor Seuss Geisel painted merely a few self-portraits during his lifetime, each of which presents an entirely different examination of who “Dr. Seuss” was and is.The portraits included here are: 1.

2.

3.

Artist Worrying about His Next Book Young Man Shaving, The Cat Behind the Hat

The most recent release from this collection, The Cat Behind the Hat, is the only self-portrait currently available to he other two are sold out. This iconic self-portrait ran in The Saturday Evening Post on July 6, 1957. Appearing just four months after the launch of The Cat in the Hat, this classic image depicts Dr. Seuss as his mischievous alter ego, complete with red and white stovepipe hat, cat ears, and the Cat’s now famous red bow tie.

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CHAPTER 9 Awards and Honors

In 1955 Dartmouth bestowed an Honorary Degree of Humane Letters on Ted Geisel. The citation read in part, “You single-handedly have stood as St. George between a generation of exhausted parents and the demon dragon of unexhausted children on a rainy day.” In 2012, Dartmouth named its medical school in honor of Audrey and Theodor Geisel. Founded in 1797, the Audrey and Theodor Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth is the nation’s fourth oldest medical school. The Geisel’s generosity to Dartmouth during their lifetimes and through their estate plan renders the Geisel family the most significant philanthropist to Dartmouth in its history. Theodor Geisel was a Dartmouth graduate of the Class of 1925.

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THEODOR SEUSS GEISEL AWARD In 2004, the American Library Association established the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award that is given annually to the authors and illustrators of the most distinguished American book for

beginning readers published in English in the United States during the preceding year. The winner and or winners are recognized for their literary and artistic achievements that

demonstrate creativity and imagination to engage children in reading, receives a bronze medal bearing Dr. Seuss’s image. Honor Book authors and illustrators receive certificates, which are

presented at the ALA Annual Conference. The award was first presented in 2006. Also in 2004, Ted was honored posthumously with the 2,249th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Mrs.

Audrey Geisel was on hand to accept the honor on behalf of her husband. The star was unveiled on March 11 at 11:30 a.m. Three of Theodore Seuss books received Caldecott Honor Awards:

McElligot’s Pool in 1947, Bartholomew and the Oobleck in 1949 and If I Ran the Zoo in 1950.

The American Library Association honored Ted with a Laura Ingalls Wilder Award. This special award is given to an author or illustrator whose books that have been published in the United States and have made a substantial contribution and lasting impact to children’s literature. In

1986 the San Diego Museum of Art, under the watchful eye of Ted himself, featured a retro-

spective dedicated to his life and work. Several of his paintings and early sketches were included in the mix. The show was well received by the public and traveled to many locations throughout the United States. The show was cataloged and put into book format as Dr. Seuss from Then to

Now which is a Catalogue of the Retrospective Exhibition. The book is no longer in print, but it offers a breathtaking array of 60 years of Ted’s work.

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PULITZER PRIZE In the spring of 1984 an Associated Press reporter phoned to say that Ted had won a Pulitzer

Prize for his contribution over nearly half a century to the education and enjoyment of America’s children and their parents. One judge said the proposal to award a Pulitzer to Dr. Seuss, initiated

by San Diego newspaper editors, met with as any he recalled. The prize brought him a flurry of

exposure on network television. Special Citations were not awarded every year. There have been 41

winners since 1930, including Bob Dylan in 2008, Ray Bradbury in 2007, Duke Ellington in 1999, and Rodgers and Hammerstein in 1944. He was the proud recipient of a Peabpdy Award, Lewis Carroll Shelf Award and Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal.

MEMORIAL GARDEN The Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden was unveiled in May 2002 at the

Springfield Museums in Springfield, Massachusetts, the city in which he was born. Sculptor Lark

Grey Dimond-Cates, Geisel’s step-daughter, created the endearing bronze sculptures of Dr. Seuss and his most beloved characters for the Springfield Library & Museums Association.

EMMY AWARDS 1. “Halloween Is Grinch Night” — Best Children’s Special, 1978

2. “The Grinch Grinches The Cat in the Hat” — Best Children’s Special, 1982

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INDEX

BOOKS The Cat In The Hat: Pg. 22-25 Horton Hears A Who!: Pg. 50-57 Oh The Places You’ll Go!: Pg. 33-43 Green Eggs And Ham: Pg. 26-31 How The Grinch Stole Christmas: Pg. 44-49 And To Think I Saw it On Mullberry St: Pg. 20,21

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CHARACTERS

ARTWORK

Sam I Am: Pg. 26-29,31

Flower Fish: Pg. 63

Grinch: Pg. 44,47,48,

A Plethora of Fish: Pg. 64-65

Monkeys: Pg. 52-54

Cat Behinf The Hat: Pg. 70

Horton: Pg. 50-57

Racing North to Get Cool Pg. 60-61

Cat In The Hat: Pg. 22,23,24,25

As a Young Man Shaving: Pg. 71

Whovillians: Pg. 52-54

After Dark in The Dark: Pg. 16

Kangaroo: Pg. 56,57

Gosh, Do I Look as Old as That: Pg. 68

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Dr. Seuss

Theodor Geisel Seuss Illustrator & Author

Illustrator & Author

So be sure when you step.

Step with care and great tact and remember that Life’s A Great Balancing Act. And will you succeed?

Yes! You will, indeed!

(98 and ¾ percent guaranteed.)

KID, YOU’LL MOVE MOUNTAINS! Oh, The Places You’’ll Go

Theodor Seuss

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