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This link discusses all things Dr. Seuss!

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Click here for 5 reasons Dr. Suess books are unique!

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The Children's Book Review | September 3, 2009

"If you never did you should.
These things are fun and fun is good"

One sunny day, while swimming in a pool, my husband and I overheard a lady proclaiming to the world that Dr. Seuss' books were absurd and should not be read to children. Her reason: incorrect use of the English language. Oh lady, you've really missed the whole point, haven't you?! Here are five reasons you should love Dr. Seuss, including his absurdity:

1. Great for Beginning Readers and Mastering Phonics

A child who is learning to read is learning to connect the sounds that go with letters so that he can then put them together to make words ... which then become sentences. Repeating sounds frequently, help a child master this skill. Dr. Seuss is the master of repetitive sounds and engaging stories, while using limited vocabulary-an ideal combination for a beginning reader. A good example:

2. Great Read-Aloud Books

Thanks to his clever rhyming, Dr. Seuss' books sound great when they are read aloud. Did you know that reading to an infant helps with brain development, speech skills, and bonding between parent and child? There are a lot of Dr. Seuss books available in board book format (Bright and Early, Board Books), which are the perfect size and durability for little hands and curious mouths. Example: Put me in the Zoo

3. Great for Reluctant Readers

Sometimes the hardest part of reading is getting your child to read. I think you would be hard pressed to find a child that would not be entertained by the sheer absurdity of Dr. Seuss's wacky plots and zany characters. Example: I Wish that I Had Duck Feet. Sometimes a little fun and excitement is all that is needed to get kids reading.

4. Great for Teaching Life's Lessons

With enchanting worlds and wonderful creatures, both familiar and unfamiliar, Dr. Seuss teaches readers many admirable life lessons. Example: is a great book for teaching children the importance of taking responsibility for the earth.

5. Great for Gift Giving and Children of All Ages

Need a gift? Dr. Seuss is your guy! He has written books that children of all ages can appreciate, even college students. From for the littlest kids, to Oh, the Places You'll Go for the graduating college student.

I am sure that you could add your own reasons for loving Dr. Seuss, so we invite you to do so in the comments section below. Be sure to share your favorite Dr. Seuss book while you are at it! More Seuss fun can be found at www.seussville.com.

While I still have you here, take a look at the books below. Some have recently been reissued in new formats, including The Big Green Book of Beginner Books - a great compilation for any beginning reader.

Board book: 24 pages

Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers; Brdbk edition (August 11, 2009)

Publisher's synopsis: Illustrations in full color. A mad outpouring of made-up words, and intriguing ideas.

Add this book to your collection: Oh, the Thinks You can Think!

Hardcover: 32 pages

Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers (August 11, 2009)

Publisher's synopsis: What were we waiting for? We've taken the classic Dr. Seuss short story What Was I Scared Of? (from The Sneetches and Other Stories), added glow-in-the-dark ink, and created the ultimate just-slightly-spooky read for slumber parties and perusal by flashlight! Perfect for Halloween, this splendidly silly story about a narrator terrorized by an empty pair of pants (which happens to be equally terrified of the narrator) works perfectly well the rest of the year, too, delivering a timeless message about fear and tolerance to boot. Scaredy-pants of all ages will quiver with delight!

Add this book to your collection: What was I Scared of? A Glow-in-the-Dark Encounter

Hardcover: 256 pages

Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers (August 11, 2009)

Publisher's synopsis: What could make a better present than a Beginner Book written by Dr. Seuss? Six of them-for less than the price of two! We've taken the complete text and art of Great Day for Up! (illustrated by Quentin Blake); I Am Not Going to Get Up Today! (illustrated by James Stevenson); I Wish That I Had Duck Feet (illustrated by T. Tobey); Maybe You Should Fly a Jet! Maybe You Should Be a Vet! (illustrated by Michael Smollin); Wacky Wednesday (illustrated by George Booth); and Would You Rather Be a Bullfrog? (illustrated by Roy McKie) and bound them together in one sturdy hardcover omnibus.A perfect introduction to reading that will whet young readers appetites for additional books in the Beginner Book series.

Add this book to your collection: The Big Green Book of Beginner Books
The following book is from The Cat in the Hat's Learning Library, which is an offshoot of Dr. Seuss' Beginner Book series.
by Tish Rabe (Author), Aristides Ruiz (Illustrator)

Reading level: Ages 4-8

Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers (October 26, 1999)

Publisher's synopsis: Blast off for educational fun! Beginning readers and budding astronomers are launched via Seussian sorcery on a wild trip to visit the nine planets in our solar system along with the Cat in the Hat, Thing One, Thing Two, and Dick and Sally.

Add this book to your collection: There's No Place Like Space! All About Our Solar System

Still want more? Here are two educational Dr. Seuss novelties:

Manufacturers Description: Children will have fun with their favorite Dr. Seuss characters as they enjoy the ridiculous rhymes and piece together the four crazy jigsaw puzzles. Features four 24-piece jigsaw puzzles and more than 20 activities.

Add this puzzle to your collection: One Fish, Two Fish Puzzle Story

Manufactures Description: Build your child's pre-reading skills and inspire creative thinking with the zany Dr. Seuss characters. Lacing cards help children to develop fine motor skills and increase hand-eye coordination. Learning left to right has never been more fun.
Add these lacing cards to your collection: Lacing Cards: How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

Do you agree with our "5 Reasons to Love Dr. Seuss?"

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The Children's Book Review | September 3, 2009 One sunny day, while swimming in a pool, my husband and I overheard a lady proclaiming to the world that Dr. Seuss' books were absurd and should not be read to children. Her reason: incorrect use of the English language.

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Fun Facts!

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CBC Books has complied a list of 60 facts you might not know about the children's author.
1. Dr. Seuss was born Theodor Seuss Geisel on March 2, 1904, in Springfield, Mass.¹

2. Seuss attributes his love of verse to his mother. When he was a child, she would make up rhymes based on pie flavours to entertain him.¹

3. His father was a master brewer and ran one of the largest brewing companies in New England. But when Prohibition took effect in 1920, the brewery closed down.

4. After the brewery closed, Dr. Seuss's father began running the local zoo. Seuss liked to visit his dad at work and when he got home he would try to draw the animals he saw on his walls.¹

You can see examples of these sculptures here.

6. Seuss's father would dream up complicated inventions in his spare time, like the "Silk-Stocking-Back-Seam-Wrong-Detecting Mirror."¹

7. Seuss attended Dartmouth from 1921-1925, where he was a contributor and editor of the college's humour magazine, The Jack-O-Lantern.

8. Seuss was banned from The Jack-O-Lantern after being caught with alcohol during Prohibition. To subvert this, he submitted cartoons under the names T. Seuss and Seuss. That's how he first came to use his famous pen name.

9. Seuss was voted "Least Likely to Succeed" by his classmates at Dartmouth.¹

11. Seuss added 'Dr.' to his name as consolation to his father, who had hoped he would practice medicine.

12. An honorary doctorate was granted to him by his alma mater, Dartmouth, in 1956.

13. "Zoyce" is the German pronunciation of Seuss, however, readers would say "Soose."¹

14. Seuss liked that "Soose" rhymed with Mother Goose, so he adopted the pronunciation.¹

16. Judge, the magazine that launched Seuss's career, sometimes couldn't pay their staff. They would give out free samples of soda, shaving cream and nail clippers instead.¹

17. Seuss was the creator of a wildly successful bug spray ad involving the catchphrase "Quick, Henry, the Flit!" The punchline led to a 17-year advertising campaign for Flit bug spray.

18. Seuss began creating children's books because it was one of the few creative projects that was not prohibited by his advertising contract.¹

19. The Pocket Book of Boners was the very first book released under the pseudonym Seuss. The book is a collection of "boners" - silly errors found in classroom papers. By 1945, it had sold 1.34 million copies.

21. His debut book was rejected 27 times before it finally went to the printing press.

22. Supposedly, Seuss would write and discard between 500-1,000 pages during the first draft of a picture book.¹

23. He reportedly would write every day for eight hours.

24. Seuss became dedicated to creating books for early readers after stumbling across an article about American children having trouble learning to read.¹

26. In 1942, Seuss began creating political posters encouraging America to enter the war.

27. During the Second World War, he enlisted in the army and was sent to Hollywood to produce propaganda cartoons featuring the military misadventures of Private SNAFU.¹

28. Seuss's work has earned two Academy Awards. An adapted version of a wartime training video about Japanese culture, titled Design for Death, won best documentary feature in 1948. A cartoon based on Seuss's story Gerald McBoing-Boing won best animated short film in 1951.¹

29. Seuss was awarded the Legion of Merit for his efforts during the war. However, he was regretful about some of his cartoons, which depicted Japanese Americans in offensive caricatured styles.

30. These offensive drawings were not limited to war time propaganda. In 2019, researchers Katie Ishizuka and Ramón Stephens published a paper in Research on Diversity in Youth Literature, documenting the author's long history of racist depictions of people of colour in magazine cartoons and advertisements. Their findings can be found here.

31. Horton Hears a Who! was inspired by Seuss's time in Japan. It was published in 1954. Seuss dedicated the book to Mitsugi Nakamura, the dean of Doshisha University in Kyoto, who helped him while he toured schools across the country interviewing children.

32. Seuss met his wife, Helen Palmer, while they attended Oxford University in 1926. He was working on a M.A. in English, but he never completed his studies.¹

33. Seuss married Helen in 1927. They moved into a walk-up apartment in New York City, where Seuss worked to establish himself as a cartoonist.

34. He and Helen were unable to have children.¹

36. Helen ran almost all of Seuss's business matters.¹

37. After WWII, he and Helen moved into an old observation tower on a mountain outside La Jolla, Calif.¹

38. Seuss and Helen ran an imprint of Random House called Beginner Books.¹

39. After Helen died in 1967, Seuss remarried a year later. His second wife, Audrey Stone Dimond, had never heard of Seuss and assumed he was a medical doctor.¹

41. Seuss's phone number was one digit off from the local fish store. Seuss would sometimes send the caller a drawing of the fish they ordered, instead of redirecting them to the store.¹

42. Seuss is credited with inventing the word "nerd." It first appeared in If I Ran the Zoo in 1950.¹

43. Seuss had a licence plate that says "GRINCH".¹

44. Published in 1953, Seuss's book The Sneetches is used in classrooms today as an "anti-racist fable." However, researchers Ishizuka and Stephens' modern day interpretation of the story suggest the opposite. Their article indicates that the book, among other problematic views, promotes colorblindness, thereby disregarding the historical and long-ranging impact of racism.

45. Green Eggs and Ham was written on a $50 bet. Random House co-founder Bennett Cerf challenged the author to write a book with only 50 words and Seuss delivered.¹

46. The Butter Battle Book, published in 1984, was the first children's book to spend six months on the New York Times' adult bestsellers list.¹

47. Yertle the Turtle was based on Adolf Hitler.¹

48. Seuss discovered the Berenstain Bears creators and supposedly edited and re-edited their first book before publishing it. He pushed the authors to connect more with the characters, asking questions like, "What kind of pipe tobacco does Papa Bear smoke?"¹

49. Seuss wrote the 1953 fantasy film The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. The movie was a commercial failure, but has since become a cult classic.¹

50. Seuss was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1984 for " his special contribution over nearly half a century to the education and enjoyment of America's children and their parents."

51. He was the first person to win the Pulitzer Prize for writing children's books.¹

52. In 1989, the logging industry wanted The Lorax removed from school reading lists. This was the first time one of Seuss's books faced censorship.¹

53. Truax by Terri Birkett, the logging industry's response to The Lorax, was published in 1994 by the National Oak Flooring Manufacturers Association.¹

54. Oh, the Places You'll Go was the last book he published alive.¹

56. In 2010, Life Books named Seuss to their list of 100 People Who Changed the World.

57. Seuss has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

58. He won a Peabody Award for the animated specials How the Grinch Stole Christmas! and Horton Hears a Who!.

60. A new previously unpublished Dr. Seuss story, Horse Museum, will be released posthumously on Sept. 3, 2019.

Marvin Miller won two Grammys: in 1965 for his album Dr. Seuss Presents: Fox in Socks & Green Eggs and Ham and in 1966 for Dr. Seuss Presents: If I Ran The Zoo & Sleep Book. Boris Karloff won in 1967 for Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas.

¹From Who Was Dr. Seuss? by Janet B. Pascal ©2011, published by Penguin.

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60 facts about the world of Dr. Seuss | CBC Books

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CBC Books has complied a list of 60 facts you might not know about the children's author. 1. Dr. Seuss was born Theodor Seuss Geisel on March 2, 1904, in Springfield, Mass.¹ 2. Seuss attributes his love of verse to his mother.

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General Info

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You are here: home / Dr Seuss books

Dr Seuss books were great favourites in our house for many years as my children were growing up. My three children are all young adults now but I still have the well-read, dog-eared copies of Hop on Pop, Green Eggs and Ham and loads more in our storeroom downstairs.

So many lovely memories are tied up in those books that I just can't bear to throw them out!

Kids of all ages love the silly rhymes and quirky illustrations which are part of all the Dr Seuss books and it helps that they're also great fun for adults to read.

In fact, there are many wonderful things about having children but I think introducing your children to the Dr Seuss stories you loved as a child is one of the best and most fun parts of being a parent!

So Who Is Dr Seuss?

Dr Seuss's real name was Theodor Seuss Geisel. He was an American writer and cartoonist who wrote 44 books for children in the years between 1945 and 1975. This makes the books quite old now, yet they're still among the most popular children's books around.

I'm not sure exactly why Dr Seuss stories are so much fun to read. The nonsense rhymes and repetition just seem to create sentences that roll easily off the tongue in a satisfying rhythm.

Babies and young children love this and it's important for their development that they hear this sort of language. In fact, sharing the Dr Seuss books with your child will help develop his language skills and even lay the foundations for learning to read later on.

You can even start before your baby is born. There's good evidence now that babies hear and respond to sounds outside the womb well before they're born and there's a special Dr Seuss book designed for parents to read to their unborn baby!

This section of Best Books for Kids contains loads of information about Dr Seuss and his books and about how they can help your child grow into an enthusiastic and confident reader.

Exploring Dr Seuss

Here's some of the information you'll find about Dr Seuss and his books here on this site:

A Dr Seuss Biography
All about out Theodor Seuss Geisel, the man behind the books, and how he came to write for children.

List of Dr Seuss Books in Publication Order
A complete list of all 44 books written and illustrated by Dr Seuss.

List of Dr Seuss Books by Recommended Age
Helpful if you're looking for a book for a particular age group or to match your child's reading level.

Dr Seuss Baby Book
A special Dr Seuss book designed to be read to your baby before he or she is born.

Dr Seuss Activities
Fun activities to do with your child after you've read the books.

10 Fun Facts About Dr Seuss
A shorter, easy-to-read biography of Dr Seuss in point form.

Dr Seuss Quotes
Dr Seuss has been widely quoted and many of the lines from his books are very quotable too. Here are some of the best.

The Benefits of Reading Dr Seuss Books With Your Child
Did you know that sharing Dr Seuss books with your children can actually help them learn to read? Read about how this works here.

Dr Seuss Philosophy
A fun look at the messages behind some of the books.

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Dr Seuss Books. Why They Matter And Which Ones To Read

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You are here: home / Dr Seuss books Dr Seuss books were great favourites in our house for many years as my children were growing up. My three children are all young adults now but I still have the well-read, dog-eared copies of Hop on Pop, Green Eggs and Ham and loads more in our storeroom downstairs.

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Dr. Seuss Books | 60 Minutes and More Compilation