Dr. Seuss Birthday Bash!
Doesn't everyone love Dr. Seuss? We do!
Challenge Facts about Dr. Seuss

                                               

Students are sending in facts they research about Dr. Seuss. Read and remember these facts for the 3rd Grade Seuss Challenge on Dr. Seuss Day!



Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known to the world as the beloved Dr. Seuss, was born in 1904 on Howard Street in Springfield, Massachusetts.


His mother "chanted" rhymes to her children when they were young. Ted credited his mother with both his ability and desire to create the rhymes for which he became so well known.

After college, Ted became a cartoonist and advertisement illustrator.

Ted learned animation while he was a political cartoonist during World War II.


Dr. Seuss’ first book was "And to think that I Saw it on Mulberry Street."




Houghton Mifflin asked Ted to write a children’s book with only 225 "new reader" words. That book was "The Cat in the Hat."

Ted Geisel died in 1991. He won 2 oscars, 2 Emmys,  a Peabody Award, and a Pulitzer prize.

Ted wrote and illustrated 44 children’s books, including all-time favorites Green Eggs and Ham, Oh, the Places You’ll Go, Fox in Socks, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. His books had been translated into more than 15 languages. Over 200 million copies of his books are in homes and hearts around the world.

The "Secret Art" of  Dr. Seuss is a collection of artwork that Dr. Seuss created after dark in his studio for his personal enjoyment. It was not shown or shared while he was alive.

Dr. Seuss’ father was a zoo superintendent and would send him beaks, and horns, and other animal pieces that Dr. Seuss used in art fantasy creature sculptures he created.


There is a broadway musical called "Seussical, the Musical" developed from  Dr. Seuss’ wonderful books and characters.

Ted Geisel was very particular about color. His art director says that his sense of color was "idosyncratic" which means the colors he used in his books were very specific and very "Seussical" colors.

According to Dr. Seuss himself, his greatest accomplishment was not any of his books, or movies, or artwork. He believed his greatest accomplishment was the Lion Wading Pool in the San Diego Wild Animal Park which he donated in 1973.

Dr. Seuss (Ted Geisel) said that he was a doodler at heart, and with a twinkle in his eye he would say...that he never really learned to draw!

Whenever Geisel found it hard to write he would take a long walk in his garden. He loved to garden and considered his garden and trees as another form of art.

Bennett Cerf, a publisher and friend of Ted Geisel, made the bet that Ted Geisel could not write a book with less than 50 words. That bet turned into the book, "Green Eggs and Ham." He also started "Beginner Books" when he knew that Dr. Seuss books were going to be very popular with children.

Did you know that Dr. Seuss had a pen name? It was Theo LeSieg. And did you know that Ted Geisel's middle name was Seuss?
(submitted by Tanner Dekock)