artwork of Dr. Seuss

Dr. Seuss

Theodor Seuss Geisel is perhaps one of the best known and most loved author/illustrators of childrenʼs literature. Throughout his career he published 46 books, many of which have been adapted for television, movie and stage productions. His books are celebrated for their whimsical characters and imaginative settings accompanied by playful rhyming text.

On March 2nd, 1904, Theodor Seuss Geisel was born to German immigrants, in Springfield, Massachusetts. His father worked in the local zoo, which Ted visited often and spent countless hours drawing the animals. His mother worked in a bakery. Ted loved the catchy poems she made up for the customers about the pie flavors. Another important influence in his early days was reading. He loved the daily comics in the newspaper and would read just about anything he could get his hands on. A doodler at heart, Ted often remarked—with a twinkle in his eye—that he never really learned to draw. His school notebooks often included bizarre creatures that framed sporadic notes he had taken in class. In 1917, Ted entered Springfieldʼs Central High School. He wrote and drew for the school paper under the pseudonym T. S. Lesieg [which is Geisel spelled backward]. He continued his studies at Dartmouth College, where he was editor and contributor to the collegeʼs humor magazine The Jack-O Lantern. It is here that he discovered the power of joining words and pictures. While he worked for the magazine he started to use the pseudonym Seuss.

In 1927, he sold his first cartoon to the Saturday Evening Post for $25.00. His success continued illustrating and writing for other magazines and advertisements. At the age of 30, Ted wrote his first childrenʼs book And To Thing That I Saw It On Mulberry Street under the pseudonym of Dr. Seuss. [He believed that adding Dr. to his name made him sound more credible].

While Theodor Geisel never had children of his own, he devoted much of his life to amusing, entertaining and educating children with his creative and whimsical books. For more than 50 years he wrote books for children [and loved by adults] that made reading fun. He has sold over 200 million copies of his books. He has been recognized as one of the most influential and loved author of childrenʼs literature and has received the Caldecott, Pulitzer and Readerʼs choice awards.

For over 60 years, Dr. Seuss’s illustrations brought a visual realization to his fantastic and imaginary worlds. However, his artistic talent went far beyond the printed page, as in his Secret Art works – the paintings and sculptures he did at night for himself that he rarely exhibited during his lifetime.

Activities:

Have students draw their own buildings or towns using at least two of the stylistic features identified in some of Dr. Seuss’ buildings. Encourage them to incorporate these stylistic features to furniture, household items, automobiles, etc.

-Read Green Eggs And Ham to the class. Discuss how some foods might not seem yummy at first, but really are good. Have the students draw on a paper plate what they would want Sam to try.

-Read Cat In The Hat to the class. Discuss the catʼs big red box. Have the students draw all the fun things they would want to keep in there.

-Read Cat In The Hat to the class. Have the students make their own hat out of paper or paper bags.

-Read The Lorax to the class. Discuss how important it is to recycle and protect the environment. Talk about things they can do to help. Have the students create a poster about what they can do to help save the environment. [This is a great lesson to present around Earth Day, April 22nd]

-Read One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish to the class. Have the students create/draw their own fish bowl.

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