Jasmine Velasquez
American Literature 2
Lesson 14
Dr. Seuss Biography

Theodor Geisel Seuss is the most creative and imaginative author that is known for children’s books. Theodor Geisel Seuss was born on March 2, 1904, in Spring Field, and passed away on September 24, 1991, in La Jolla. Theodor was rejected by 27 publishers, but didn’t stop trying until he got published because becoming a children’s author was his dream. At the time of Theodor Geisel Seuss‘s death in 1991 his 44 children’s books had sold more than 200 million copies and the last book, “Oh The Places You’ll Go “, was still on the best sellers list. Surprisingly, Theodor had no children of his own, but he did have a great understanding of them. Theodor Geisel Seuss is known as “Ted” to family and friends. He adopted the name Dr. Seuss because he wanted to save his real name for a great American novel that he would write one day. Dr. Seuss was originally considered to write books that appeal to the children. Seuss’s first book “And to Think I Saw It on Mulberry Street”, was rejected by 27 publishers. No one wanted to publish his first children’s book because it was full of ABC fanciful creatures including the long-necked whizzleworp and green stripped cholmondelet. A new book seemed like a good idea, so when Seuss was aboard a ship crossing the Atlantic in 1936, he kept himself entertained by putting together words that rhyme from the ships engines. Seuss did eventually get published. One night as he was walking down Madison Avenue, Seuss was about the throw away his book, but ended up running into a former classmate Mike McClintock who had just been appointed juvenile editor of vanguard press. McClintock promptly took Dr. Seuss up to his office and they signed a contract for the book “And to Think I Saw It on Mulberry Street”. Two hundred million of Dr. Seuss’s copies of his books were sold. The forty four books that Dr. Seuss originally wrote, only four are in prose. If we were to add books that were illustrated by others or written by a co-author, or published posthumously, then the total number of books would be sixty-six, with only 5 in prose. Dr. Seuss is one of the most popular poets. One of the reasons he rarely received respect is because Seuss wrote for children. When World War Two started, Seuss began to draw political cartoons for the New York newspaper called “PM”. Books like “The Cat in the Hat” and “Green Eggs and Ham” were difficult to write for him because he