Dr. Seuss

1. Fishing for facts about Dr. Seuss Thanks to Whimsy Primsy and DigiWebStudio for the artwork http://www.digiwebstudio.com/store/

2. How did Dr. Seuss get his name? What was Dr. Seuss like as a kid? Did Dr. Seuss study to be an artist? Why is Dr. Seuss so famous? Why did Dr. Seuss become a children’s author? You won’t even believe these fun facts. How many books did Dr. Seuss write?

3. Why is Dr. Seuss so famous? Dr. Seuss is famous because he was such a talented author and illustrator. A long time ago, there weren’t very many books for new readers. If you were just learning to read, the books were not very fun. They were a little boring, but Dr. Seuss was not boring! His books were colorful and very funny. Kids loved his silly stories. They wanted to read more and more of them. So, Dr. Seuss wrote 44 books for children. That is a lot of books! For over 75 years, kids have been learning how to read with Dr. Seuss’s books.

4. What was Dr. Seuss like as a kid? Dr. Seuss was born on March 2, 1904 in Massachusetts. His father had two jobs, and one of them was working in a zoo. Dr. Seuss loved to go to the zoo and see all of the animals. His mother took him to the library, and she loved all of the pictures that he drew. She didn’t even get mad when he drew on his bedroom walls! His parents were from Germany, and he spoke both English and German at home. Dr. Seuss was just like you. He loved riding his bike, exploring the outdoors, and playing with toy soldiers. He also had a bulldog with only three legs named Rex.

5. Did Dr. Seuss study to be an artist? Dr. Seuss loved to draw pictures, but his pictures were very silly. He loved to draw animals that looked crazy. Sometimes, his cows would have wings and his birds would have long ears! He took only one art class in high school. His teacher told him that he could not draw his pictures because they did not follow the rules. So, Dr. Seuss never went back to that art class. He didn’t think that his pictures were very good. At college, he studied to be an English teacher, but he never stopped doodling and drawing his silly stuff.

6. How did Dr. Seuss get his name? Dr. Seuss was not always called Dr. Seuss. His parents named him Theodor Seuss Geisel. His friends called him Ted. When Ted was in college, he worked for the school newspaper. He really liked that job, but he also really liked to have parties. One time, he got in big trouble for having a party. The college told him that he could not write stories for the newspaper anymore. Well, Ted was sneaky. He kept writing, but he didn’t put his own name on his paper. He used his middle name “Seuss”. That is how it all started!

7. Why did Dr. Seuss become a children’s author? Dr. Seuss went to college to be an English teacher. When he was in college, he met a girl named Helen. Helen thought that his very silly pictures were great. She thought that he should be an illustrator! Dr. Seuss realized that he didn’t want to teach, but that he wanted to draw pictures and write stories. He got a job drawing pictures of bugs for a big company. He worked there for 17 years. On vacation, Dr. Seuss got the idea for his first book. He wrote the book and tried to get a company to publish it. Over 25 companies said “No”, but Dr. Seuss never gave up!

8. How many books did Dr. Seuss write? Dr. Seuss wrote 44 books. His first book was called Andto Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street. It was published in 1937. That was a long time ago. Many of his books have been turned into TV shows and movies. Dr. Seuss helped to make the Christmas special, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Have you seen the movies about The Cat in the Hat and Horton Hears a Who? Those are Dr. Seuss’s books too! He even wrote a whole book using just fifty words. That is hard to do your know! Can you guess what book that is?

9. You won’t believe these fun facts! In the beginning, Dr. Seuss would sign his name Dr. Theophratus Seuss. Theophratus was the name of his favorite stuffed animal when he was a little boy. Theophratus sat on Dr. Seuss’ desk when he grew up and became an author. Dr. Seuss’ license plate on his car spelled GRINCH. Dr. Seuss wrote his last book, Oh the Places You’ll Go when he was 86 years old.

10. BIBLIOGRAPHY Adil, Janeen. Dr. Seuss. Hockessin, Delaware: Mitchell Lane Publishers, 2005. Krull, Kathleen. The Boy on Fairfield Street: How Ted Geisel Grew Up to Become Dr. Seuss. New York: Random House, 2004. Woods, Mae. Dr. Seuss. Minneapolis: ABDO Publishing Company, 2000. Thanks to Whimsy Primsy and DigiWebStudio for the artwork http://www.digiwebstudio.com/store/