Whether it’s the Grinch, Horton or Cindy Lou Who, we all know the Who behind these Whos. Born Theodor Seuss Geisel, this children’s author and illustrator is known to most of us as Dr. Seuss. As a child, Seuss would spend countless hours at the local zoo drawing animals. Seuss’s mom loved creating silly rhymes and drawings, and his dad loved to imagine intricately creative machines. In a home full of creativity, Seuss was drawn to the world of art. He was a doodler, which led him to take his first art class while in high school. Later he went off to Dartmouth College, where he became editor of the school’s newspaper to further his talents of writing and illustrating. This started his path of working as a cartoonist for several magazines, such as Life and Vanity Fair. As his love of illustrating grew, he was able to use his artistic talent to draw political illustrations during the war. But ultimately he was drawn to creating children’s books, as he had the desire to help kids learn to read. He liked to draw out his ideas and then create the stories around them. In 1937, after 27 rejections by publishers, Seuss published his first children’s book, And To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street. Today Dr. Seuss is a household name, with hits such as The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, The Lorax and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. Over his lifetime Seuss wrote and published over 60 books.
This quote embodies Seuss’s life: “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in 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.”
Seuss has not only helped countless children learn to read through his talents, but he has also inspired many to follow their dreams even when facing adversity.
For more information on Dr. Seuss’s artistic illustrations, check out these resources:
The Cat Behind the Cat: The Art of Dr. Seuss by Caroline M. Smith
The Art of Dr. Seuss Collection