Who Was Dr. Seuss

In this episode, Who Was Dr. Seuss . . .
I'm curious, have you ever wondered where the name Dr. Seuss came from? Theodor Seuss Geisel was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, on March 2, 1904. Today we celebrate his 118 birthday!

After reading The Cat in the Hat for the first time in a previous podcast episode (Tribute to Dr. Seuss), we decided to try our hand at his literary style. I'm here to say it wasn't easy.

Why Dr. Seuss? Well, remember that children's books series (The Who Was Series) we introduced you to? During a recent visit to Barnes and Noble, I picked up Who Was Dr. Seuss by Janet B. Pascal. After reading that book, I was compelled to order Oh, the Places You'll Go! What a marvelous book.

I'll admit I've become captivated with these books; why? If you look carefully, the attention to character detail is outstanding. The facial expressions, the use of colors, the carefully crafted words created to rhyme, and the scope of the implied meaning within the scenes. Yes, I can now see why Dr. Seuss was so beloved. By children and adults alike. From my readings, I've discovered that in 2001, Publishers Weekly drew up a list of the top 150 best-selling children's books of all time; 24 were by Dr. Seuss. During his career, he wrote over forty books.

After graduating from Dartmouth College (B.A., 1925), Geisel did postgraduate studies at Lincoln College, Oxford, and the Sorbonne. He subsequently began working for Life, Vanity Fair, and other publications as an illustrator and humorist. In addition, he found success in advertising, providing illustrations for several campaigns. Geisel was especially noted for his work on ads for Flit insect repellent. Some of his characters later appeared in his children's books.

While working for the magazine Judge, he started writing a column called "Boids and Beasties," where he introduced strange and playful creatures. At that time, he signed the column "Dr. Seuss" to honor his father's hope that his son would get his Ph.D. Seuss was his mother's maiden name and his given middle name. Ted Geisel had dropped out of the Ph.D. program at Oxford. He would eventually, however, earn several honorary doctorates throughout his career.

What I discovered is Dr. Seuss is among histories treasured Americans. A Dr. Seuss book is the first book given to one out of every four children born in the United States. And Oh, the Places You'll Go! to this day is one of the most popular gifts for high school and college graduates.

Happy Birthday, Theodor Seuss Geisel.

I'm Patrick Ball; thanks for listening; see you in the next episode.

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