Dr. Seuss

I occasionally like to look up completely random information that adds nothing of great value to my life but is fascinating. Little Boy owns several Dr. Seuss books, and we borrow more from the library whenever we can. I honestly do not know a child (or adult) who does not love to read Dr. Seuss books. His imagination, creativity, catchy verses, made-up words, and whimsical illustrations completely draw me. At Thanksgiving, I commented to our family that Dr. Seuss must be a genius for his ability to teach children common and important sounds and syllables, give them fun yet easy reading material, and keep them engaged in the story with his imaginative characters and his illustrations. Genius or completely crazy, my brother-in-law said in response.

Genius or completely crazy? Most likely a bit of both, I thought, but that comment spurred on my curiosity. Was Dr. Seuss intentional in his writings? Or did he just have a ridiculous, over-active imagination that publishers decided to harness? And so I decided to find out. Here's what I learned about Theodor Seuss Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss):

• Geisel did not start as a children's author. He worked as an illustrator for advertising campaigns and as a political cartoonist. During World War II, he joined the Air Force, served in their animation department, and wrote Design for Death, a film that later won the 1947 Academy Award for Documentary Feature.
  
• Theodor Seuss Geisel used the name pen Dr. Seuss for books that he wrote and illustrated. He used the pen name Theodor LeSieg for books that he wrote but asked someone else to illustrate. LeSieg is Geisel spelled backwards.
  
• The correct pronunciation of Seuss is Soice (to rhyme with voice), but everyone currently pronounces the name Suice (to rhyme with juice).
  
• In May 1954, Life magazine wrote an article on illiteracy in school children and concluded that children were not learning to read because their books were boring. Dr. Seuss' publisher wrote a list of 400 words that he felt were important and asked Dr. Seuss to write a children's book incorporating at least half of those words. Nine months later, Dr. Seuss completed The Cat in the Hat using 220 of the words that were given to him. And so began his career in children's literature.
  
• A rumor states that Dr. Seuss' publisher bet Dr. Seuss $50 that he could not write an engaging children's book using only 50 words. In response Dr. Seuss wrote Green Eggs and Ham.
  
• Dr. Seuss dedicated most of his life to writing children's books and became passionate about literacy in children. He has published over 60 children's books, including a line of Beginner Books with simplified vocabulary for those learning to read. He struggled most with writing the Beginner Books, each book apparently taking him months and months to complete.
  
• In 2000, Publisher's Weekly composed a list of best-selling children's books of all time. Of the top 100 hardcovers, 16 were Dr. Seuss books, including The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.
  

So there you have it! Definitely not information that you needed to live a long, happy life, but fascinating nonetheless. And personally, I think the scales tip more towards the genius end than the crazy end! Don't you?