Theodor Seuss Geisel the Early Works of Dr. Suess Volumes 1 and 2

I think we all know how influential Theodor Suess Geisel, or Dr. Suess, was to children's literature. I remember growing up with his books, and the first book my four-year-old son is able to read is the classic Green Eggs and Ham.

In short, Dr. Seuss is immortalized as an author as much as Shakespeare. However, before he made it big in children's books, he was an ordinary freelance author and artist, and was sometimes struggling to make a living. Checker Book Publishing has recently compiled his pre-Mulberry Street works into two volumes appropriately called: Theodor Suess Geisel The Early Works of Dr. Seuss.

One of the first entries is a pamphlet that warned soldiers about the dangers of mosquitoes. It was titled This is Ann, with a subtitle She's Dying To Meet You. The illustration features a mosquito with Seuss' style: an upside-down turnip for a head, pot belly, and spaghetti-thin arms. I'm not certain whether Seuss wrote the text, but it has a very juvenile style that is reminiscent of his works.

Suess was one of the masterminds to many ad campaigns, such as Atlas Motor Products, a branch of Standard Oil. He was able to use his artistic skill to make a car personified and lifelike, such as one illustration where tires have teeth to "Bite In" the road. One illustration of a man riding a Turtle (to illustrate a vehicle without Atlas parts) the turtle looks remarkably like Yertle the Turtle.

Suess also used his skills in advertising with a series of Macy-Westchester newspaper ads called "nobody can resist a mirror", a slogan that is attributed to Seuss himself.

The Early Works also showcases some of Seuss' work that appeared in Judge magazine, which was his first steady job. Some of the cartoons I could not get, and I have a feeling that they were meant to satirize contemporary society of Seuss' time. His cartoons that appeared in PM Magazine were less than subtle on their message. Many of them were critical of the United States not being involved in World War II (these cartoons ran before Pearl Harbor).

Some of Seuss' hysterical works appeared in a series called Boners. The series talked about common misrepresented facts with cartoon illustrations. For example, "Jacob, son of Isaac, stole his brother's birth mark". The cartoon then features Esau showing a cop where his missing birthmark (instead of birthright), while Jacob is sneaking off in the background. Much of these particular cartoons involved a lot of "in" jokes, but would fit in well in Mad Magazine.

Seuss also his revealed his non-jeuvenile writing style with certain articles geared for adults. Such as the humorous: "The Facts of Life Or, How Should I Tell My Child", which talks a lot about sex.

If you are a writer like me, you might feel relieved to know that even the great Seuss had to start out doing cartoons for big corporations just to pay the bills. Yet even though he had to work for a living, he never waned as far as his creativity was concerned.