Of Sneetches and Whos and the Good Dr. Seuss: Essays on the Writings and Life of Theodor Geisel

Children and adults alike remember Dr. Seuss’s cat in the hat, the culinary delight to be found in green eggs and ham, and the fate of the Grinch who stole Christmas. What few know is that Theodor Seuss Geisel’s first book came to him while returning from Europe aboard an ocean liner; he found himself obsessed with the throbbing of the ship’s engines and repeated the beat until the words of his first book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, made it to the page. Over the years, he produced 21 of the best-loved children’s books of the 20th century, including The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins, Horton Hatches the Egg, Bartholomew and the Oobleck, and The Lorax. The 26 articles in this collection (from newspapers, magazines, the academic world and sources in between) provide a variety of perspectives on his work, from how and why he completely revolutionized children’s literature to why children were the ones who truly understood and appreciated his characters. This work also contains a chronology of the key dates in Geisel’s life.