Dr. Seuss is one of the most famous authors of any generation. He was also a political cartoonist, illustrator, poet, animator, and filmmaker.
He has written over 40 different books. Some of his children’s books have even been made into movies and are read all over the world by millions of children in schools.
Dr. Seuss is an author who people know for his rhyming and his made up words. Children have fallen in love with some of his characters, and the books often have inspirational messages.
Interesting Facts about Dr. Seuss
If you can believe it, Dr. Seuss’s name is not actually Dr. Seuss. Dr. Seuss’s real name is Theodor Geisel. He was born in Springfield, Missouri.
He decided to use his middle name Seuss as his pen name, Dr. Seuss. Seuss was his mother’s maiden name which is her last name before she was married.
Dr. Seuss’s birthday is March 2nd, 1904. Theodor Geisel grew up during World War 1 and loved to visit the Springfield Zoo with his sketch pad and pencil in his early life. He also was a Boy scout.
In high school, Dr. Seuss’s creativity really increased. He loved to write and draw. He enjoyed many extra-curricular activities. He even submitted work to the school’s newspaper.
After High School, Ted decided to attend Dartmouth College and graduated in 1925. He also attended Oxford University for some post-graduate studies. However, he never finished his studies and didn’t earn his doctorate degree.
Dr. Seuss married his first wife, Helen Palmer, on November 29, 1927, and they were married until her death in 1967. Dr. Seuss married Audrey Stone Dimond in 1968, and they were married until he died in 1991.
He won multiple academy awards. One award was for “Design for Death,” written by Ted and Helen Geisel, and it won the 1947 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
Dr. Seuss called La Jolla home for 40 years until he passed away. While living in La Jolla, he wrote 48 books, some of which included Horton Hears a Who, The Cat in the Hat, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and Green Eggs and Ham. It is said he used the Cypress trees as inspiration for the trees in The Lorax.
Dr. Seuss Books
Dr. Seuss has written many, many books. Some of them are famous. Some of them are not. The first children’s book Dr. Seuss wrote was And To Think I Saw It On Mulberry Street. Here are just a few of his famous books you might know:
- And To Think I saw It On Mulberry Street
- Green Eggs And Ham
- Oh, The Places You’ll Go
- How The Grinch Stole Christmas
Some Dr. Seuss books were turned into live-action movies, including Cat in the Hat. It starred Mike Myers as the Cat. How the Grinch Stole Christmas was actually remade into a movie three times! One of the most popular is the live-action version which stars Jim Carrey as the Grinch. Other books made into animated movies were The Lorax where Danny DeVito voices the Lorax and Horton Hears a Who where Horton is voiced by Jim Carrey.
Dr. Seuss Facts
Theodor Geisel, or Dr. Seuss, uses different words in his books. Words many had never heard of. He invented many words like spazzim, thnadners, sneedle, glikker, wumbus, yuzz. He is well known for his creative language and rhyming schemes.
Dr. Seuss won the Pulitzer Prize, which is an achievement award in one of these categories: newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, or musical composition within the United States. He won for his literature and contribution to education and the enjoyment he brought to so many children and families.
He also won not one, but two Emmy Awards. Emmy awards are given to people for artistic and technical achievements in the television industry. It is considered one of the four major entertainment awards in the United States. He won for his two Children’s Specials in 1975 and 1978.
Awards
Besides winning a Pulitzer Price and two Emmy Awards, Dr. Seuss won multiple other honors, including a Peabody Award.
The George Foster Peabody Award is named for George Peabody, the American businessman and philanthropist or person who gives back to communities through charities and donations. This award honors the most powerful and educational stories in television, radio, and online media. Dr. Seuss won this award for his television program Horton Hears a Who. It showed how a book could easily dbe made into an educational television show and help children through real-world problems.
Dr. Seuss also received an honorary doctorate from Dartmouth College in 1956. Dartmouth College was his alma mater, the college he graduated from, and a special honor. Dr. Seuss was a beloved author and was honored for many of his famous works.
Fun Facts About Dr. Seuss
Dr. Seuss’s books are very popular in the United States, but did you know they are published in over 100 different countries? They are translated or written in at least a dozen languages, even braille.
He didn’t start off writing children’s books. He first started with political cartoons for the New York newspaper PM, and he worked as the chief editorial cartoonist for the newspaper from 1941 to 1943.
National Read Across America Day or Dr. Seuss day is held every year on March 2nd or Dr. Seuss’s birthday! This is a day where all children are encouraged to pick up a good book and enjoy some reading time with their parents, friends, or teachers. The tradition is to read Dr. Seuss’s books in honor of him on this special day.
Quick Facts About Dr. Seuss
- He never had any biological children.
- Seuss was successful in advertising before being a children’s author.
- His friend bet him that he couldn’t write a book with just 50 different words. This is how Green Eggs and Ham was written.
- It took him over a year to write Cat in the Hat. It only uses 236 different words!
- Seuss has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The Dr. Seuss Museum is located in Springfield, Massachusetts. It is open to the public Tuesday-Sunday. The museum is fully bilingual (Spanish and English). When exploring the first floor you will find interactive exhibits and opportunities to play with sounds, vocabulary, rhyming games, and invent stories of your own.
On the second floor, you will be transported to Dr. Seuss’s studio and living room. The furniture and art materials displayed are ones he actually used! You’ll find art, family photographs, letters and the Geisel Grove sign that hung in Forest Park. There is even a Theophrastus, the toy dog Dr. Seuss’s mother gave him.
This American author has touched the lives of many readers with his fun stories and fun way of using words.