Green Eggs, Grinches, and Genius: The Legacy of Dr. Seuss

Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known to the world as Dr. Seuss, was born in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1904. At Dartmouth College he began signing his work “Seuss,” a name he kept even after a short time at Oxford convinced him he would rather draw and play with words than become a professor. Before writing children’s books, he made his living as a magazine cartoonist and advertising illustrator. During World War II, he even joined the U.S. Army and helped create animated films and training cartoons.

Dr. Seuss eventually found his true calling in children’s literature, and he completely changed the way kids learn to read. The Cat in the Hat was written to replace dull school primers, using only a limited list of simple words. Green Eggs and Ham went a step further, built entirely from just fifty different words after a playful challenge from his publisher. He had a knack for turning restrictions into imaginative stories that were bursting with life. And while most of us say his name like “Soose,” the family actually pronounced it to rhyme with “voice.”

Over the course of his career he wrote and illustrated more than sixty books, which together have sold hundreds of millions of copies around the globe. He won Academy Awards for film work, received a Pulitzer Prize, and today his birthday is celebrated as Read Across America Day. From the Grinch to the Lorax, his characters continue to remind readers that nonsense can be wise, silliness can be serious, and sometimes the best way to share a big idea is through a rhyme that makes you smile.