Happy Birthday and Thank You, Dr. Seuss

Remember the joy of reading your first Dr. Seuss Book? Maybe it was the 'Cat in the Hat'. Do you remember imagining what Green Eggs and Ham might taste like? Looking back now I can see Sam I Am's point. My favorite book was 'Go Dogs Go' and I do, I do like that party hat.

Who was Dr. Seuss? Theodor Seuss Geisel was born March 2^nd, 1904 in Springfield, MA. He began his writing career upon acquiring a doctorate in literature from Oxford University.

Dr. Seuss married Helen Palmer in 1927 whom he had met at Oxford. His early start was writing funny stories and cartoons for a magazine called 'Judge'. He also wrote the same type of material off and on for iconic magazines such as Life and Vanity Fair.

His first book was 'And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street'. He almost didn't get it published being turned down time and time again by publisher after publisher. But in the end a friend in the publishing business did publish the book for him and he now authored his very first book.

During the big war, WWII, He went on and wrote documentaries in which he won Oscar's for two of them. He also won another Oscar for a cartoon he had created.

It was in 1954 that Dr. Suess's publisher sent him a list of 400 words asking him to cut the list to 250 words that would be suitable to use in writing a children's book. The idea was to see how many words a first grade child could learn. Dr. Suess's first book was 'The Cat in the Hat'. It of course went on to become an all time children's book classic.

Sometime after the sucess of 'The Cat in the Hat' Dr. Suess was challenged to try and write a book using only 50 words. The result of that challenge turned into another of Dr. Suess's beloved classics, 'Green Eggs and Ham'.

Dr. Suess has left a lasting legacy to the world by having over 500,000,000 of his books in circulation. It is safe to say that Dr. Suess has become the best-selling children's book author of all time. Who hasn't heard the story of How the Grinch Stole Christmas? Did you ever want to jump into that story and help catch Thing One and Thing Two? Or what child hasn't been enthralled with that infectious canine party in the top of that tree over there at the end of 'Go Dog's Go'?

Theodor Seuss Geisel died in September 24^th, 1991. But not until he left the world with story after story that will delight children for many generations to come. Go on now gather your loved one's around the breakfast table and share a plate of Green eggs and Ham. Afterwords let the kids Hop on Pop, but if it's raining out side keep an eye out for cats wearing red and white hats. Happy Birthday Cat and thank you Dr. Suess.

Here is a list of books written by Dr.Seuss:

1 -- And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street
2 -- Bartholomew and the Oobleck
3 -- The Butter Battle Book
4 -- The Cat in the Hat
5 -- The Cat in the Hat Beginner Book
6 -- The Cat in the Hat Comes Back
7 -- The Cat in the Hat Song Book
8 -- The Cat's Quizzer
9 -- Come Over To My House
10 -- Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?
11 -- Dr. Seuss's ABC
12 -- Dr. Seuss's Sleep Book
13 -- The Eye Book
14 -- The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins
15 -- The Foot Book
16 -- Fox in Socks
17 -- Great Day For Up!
18 -- Green Eggs and Ham
19 -- Happy Birthday to You!
20 -- Hop on Pop
21 -- Horton Hatches The Egg
22 -- Horton Hears A Who
23 -- How The Grinch Stole Christmas
24 -- Hunches in Bunches
25 -- I Am Not Going To Get Up Today!
26 -- I Can Draw Myself
27 -- I Can Lick 30 Tigers Today
27 -- King Looie Katz
27 -- The Glunk That Got Thunk
28 -- I Can Read With My Eyes Shut
29 -- I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew
30 -- If I Ran The Circus
31 -- If I Ran The Zoo
32 -- I Wish I Had Duck Feet
33 -- The King's Stilts
34 -- The Lorax
35 -- Marvin K. Mooney, Will You Please Go Now!
36 -- McElligot's Pool
37 -- Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?
38 -- My Book About Me, By Me Myself
39 -- Oh Say Can You Say
40 -- Oh, The Places You'll Go!
41 -- Oh, The Thinks You Can Think!
42 -- On Beyond Zebra
43 -- One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish
44 -- Scrambled Eggs Super!
45 -- The Seven Lady Godivas
46 -- Shape of Me and Other Stuff
47 -- The Sneetches and Other Stories
47 -- The Zax
47 -- Too Many Daves
47 -- What Was I Scared Of?
48 -- Ten Apples Up On Top
49 -- There's a Wocket In My Pocket
50 -- Thidwick, The Big-Hearted Moose
51 -- The Tooth Book
52 -- The Tough Coughs as He Ploughs The Dough
53 -- Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories
53-- Gertrude McFuzz
53 -- The Big Brag
54 -- You're Only Old Once!