Dr. Seuss Biography (1280l) - Middle School Reading Article Worksheet (Page 2 of 4) in pdf

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Dr. Seuss Biography (1280L)

became nationally famous.

Notes on my thoughts,

reactions and questions as I

Around this time, Viking Press offered him a contract to illustrate a children's

read:

collection called Boners. The book sold poorly, but it gave him a break into

children's literature. Geisel's first book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry

Street, was rejected 27 times before it was finally published by Vanguard Press in

1937.

At the start of World War II, Geisel began contributing weekly political cartoons to

the liberal publication PM Magazine. In 1942, too old for the World War II draft,

Geisel served with Frank Capra's Signal Corps, making animated training films and

drawing propaganda posters for the Treasury Department and the War Production

Board.

Commercial Success

Following the war, Geisel and Helen purchased an old observation tower in La

Jolla, California, where he would write for at least eight hours a day, taking breaks

to tend his garden. He wrote and published several children's books in the coming

years, including If I Ran the Zoo and Horton Hears a Who!

A major turning point in Geisel's career came when, in response to a 1954 Life

magazine article that criticized children's reading levels, Houghton Mifflin and

Random House asked him to write a children's primer using 220 vocabulary words.

The resulting book, The Cat in the Hat, was published in 1957 and was described by

one critic as a "tour de force." The success of The Cat in the Hat cemented Geisel's

place in children's literature.

In the years that followed, Geisel authored many more books, both in his new

simplified-vocabulary style and using his older, more elaborate technique, and

including such favorites as Green Eggs and Ham and How the Grinch Stole

Christmas. In 1966, with the help of eminent cartoonist Chuck Jones, The Grinch

was adapted into an animated film.

Personal Life and Later Years

In October of 1967, Helen, who was suffering from both cancer and the emotional

pain caused by an affair Geisel had with their longtime friend Audrey Stone

Diamond, committed suicide. Geisel married Audrey the following year.

On September 24, 1991, Geisel passed away at the age of 87. In 1997, the Art of Dr.

Seuss project was launched. Today, limited-edition prints and sculptures of Geisel's

artworks can be found at galleries alongside the works of Rembrandt, Picasso and

Miro. Sixteen of his books are on Publishers Weekly's list of the "100 Top-Selling

Hardcover Children's Books of All-Time."

Dr. Seuss. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 09:53, Feb 26, 2013, from

9479638.

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