Biography of Dr. Seuss

ABOUT THE BOOKIn some ways, Dr. Seuss seems as unexpected and paradoxical a character as one of his own creations. His last name wasn't Seuss, he wasn't a doctor, and he never had his own children - nor was he particularly comfortable around them. When he did consent to answer an interviewer's questions, his replies were often as whimsical as his children's books.The mystery was part of the legend and served him well, for it's hard for readers to separate the real Dr. Seuss from the fantasyland he dreamed up - a fantasyland that was sorely-needed in the years just before and after the Second World War. Dr. Seuss's books came out at a time when schools were using the often-boring, formulaic Dick and Jane series of books to teach reading to first and second graders. The illustrations were candy-box pretty, and there were no plots, no stories, and certainly no fantasy.Enter Dr. Seuss, with his Grinches and Hortons and Whos from Whoville. It was a world that children - and adults - had never before seen in children's literature; a world that inspired children to dream big, and to channel their highest ideals and most exciting, adventurous dreams into their own lives. This world also used words in fantastical ways, with a rhythm that virtually reinvented children's poetry.

ABOUT THE BOOKIn some ways, Dr. Seuss seems as unexpected and paradoxical a character as one of his own creations. His last name wasn't Seuss, he wasn't a doctor, and he never had his own children - nor was he particularly comfortable around them. When he did consent to answer an interviewer's questions, his replies were often as whimsical as his children's books.The mystery was part of the legend and served him well, for it's hard for readers to separate the real Dr. Seuss from the fantasyland he dreamed up - a fantasyland that was sorely-needed in the years just before and after the Second World War. Dr. Seuss's books came out at a time when schools were using the often-boring, formulaic Dick and Jane series of books to teach reading to first and second graders. The illustrations were candy-box pretty, and there were no plots, no stories, and certainly no fantasy.Enter Dr. Seuss, with his Grinches and Hortons and Whos from Whoville. It was a world that children - and adults - had never before seen in children's literature; a world that inspired children to dream big, and to channel their highest ideals and most exciting, adventurous dreams into their own lives. This world also used words in fantastical ways, with a rhythm that virtually reinvented children's poetry.