I am Sam.

Sam I am.

That Sam-I-am!

That Sam-I-am!

I do not like that Sam-I am.

The six short lines above were written by one of the most outstanding children's writers of our time - Dr. Seuss. To see just a few of his printed words leaves the reader wanting to read more. The creative rhyme, colorful pictures, and the simplicity of the words catch the imagination and hold the reader spell-bound anxious to hear the antics of Dr. Seuss. But how did Dr. Seuss come to be?

Follow up:

First, Dr. Seuss wasn't a doctor, and, second, his real name was Theodor Seuss Geisel. He was the son of immigrants from Germany who were brew-masters, and he did not intend to spend his life writing books for children. He was an aspiring young artist until WWII came along. After the war, he came home and began writing and illustrating childrens' books as a means of making a living for him and his new wife, Helen. Geisel and his wife were content. He was making a name for himself as an artist. Then the inevitable happened. In 1954, Life magazine published a report led by journalist John Hersey on illiteracy among American school children. This report concluded that the children in the United States simply could not read because all of their books were boring! The children had no motivation to read; therefore, they were not able to develop sufficiently in their reading skills. Geisel's publisher read the article with great interest. "I bet I know someone that can write and illustrate interesting books. And I bet he can do so by using a very limited vocabulary that youngsters can quickly learn," thought the publisher.

Of course, Geisel was the writer who he had in mind! But thepublisher prepared himself before he presented the project to Geisel. Working with teachers in the surrounding area, he created a list of 400 words that they felt were important for a growing four year old reader to know. Then the publisher determined the number of words that he felt reasonably sure that a four year old could learn in a week. Instead of him delivering the assignment to Geisel, he had the publishing house that employed Geisel deliver the assignment. Later negotiations were held between the company and Geisel. Then Geisel met with the publisher, and the two of them set about shrinking the number of words to only 250 of the most important words for a student to learn. 

Nine months later, Geisel delivered his manuscript. He was thirty words short of the 250 original words. He had written a book that used only 223 words! And what golden words they were! In 1950, the book was published - The Cat in the Hat. It became an amazing best seller then and remains on the best seller list for children today. In an interview published in ARIZONA magazine in June 1981, Geisel said: "They (publishers) think I did it in twenty minutes. That d----d 'Cat in the Hat' took nine months until I was satisfied. There were two hundred and twenty-three words to use in this book. I read the list three times and I almost went out of my head. I said, 'I'll read it once more and if I can find two words that rhyme that will be the title of my book. I found "cat" and "hat" and I said, "The title of my book will be 'The Cat in the Hat.'"

Theodor Geisel wrote 48 books for children during the course of his career, but he also wrote books for adults. The books for adults are just as well written, just as imaginative, and just as thought provoking as those for children. He labored for months over each book that he wrote. He wanted perfection and he wanted to teach imagination to his young readers. There are many excellent internet sites for Dr. Seuss but the best one is www.Seussville.com. Parents and teachers will find games, online activities, and even directions for making 'green eggs and ham'. Try them. You'll love them just as much as you do the mysterious Dr. Seuss!