On October 12, 2007, Dr. Seuss’s Grinch, one of the most recognized characters in children’s literature, will celebrate his 50th birthday. To honor 50 years of How The Grinch Stole Christmas! Random House Children’s Books is publishing A 50th Anniversary Retrospective (On sale September 25, 2007 / $24.99) and a Party Edition (On sale September 25, 2007 / $14.00). Since its original publication in 1957, How the Grinch Stole Christmas! has sold over 5 million copies and is a bestseller every holiday season.

HOW DID DR. SEUSS EVER DREAM UP THE GRINCH?
Dr. Seuss tinkered with Christmas images and ideas for years, but it wasn’t until 1955 when he wrote, “A Prayer for a Child” that he put into words his thoughts about the true meaning of the holiday. In this poem, his one wish was not for material gain, but for peace on earth. His ideas continued to ripen and take shape and, in 1957, Random House published How the Grinch Stole Christmas! — the first holiday picture book ever to go beyond elves and reindeer and sugarplums to touch upon the deeper meaning of Christmas. Christmas isn’t just about giving gifts. Christmas is about coming together as a community, a message that is as resonant today as it was then.

Dr. Seuss’s 50th Anniversary Retrospective Edition includes:

• The full text and illustrations of Dr. Seuss’s original story.
• 32 pages of commentary and archival images written and collected by Dr. Charles D. Cohen—the world's foremost Seuss scholar and collector and author of The Seuss, The Whole Seuss, and Nothing But the Seuss.
• Three rarely seen Seuss works: two poems—"Perfect Present" and "A Prayer for a Child”—and “The Hoobub and the Grinch,” a short story published in 1955 featuring an early iteration of the classic character.

In Cohen’s commentary, you will discover:

• Dr. Seuss’s story coined a new word—“Grinch”—which can be found in all modern dictionaries.
• Stories about the evolution of the Grinch, his dog Max, and the inhabitants of Who-ville—from their origins in How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (and earlier Seuss works) through their various television, film and product incarnations.
• That looking in the mirror (and thinking about his feelings on Christmas) helped Dr. Seuss develop his ideas for How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
• That, while everyone thinks of the Grinch as being green, he actually started out black and white with pink eyes. It was in the 1966 TV cartoon that the Grinch took on green coloring.
• The many ways in which the Grinch has influenced popular culture.

In addition to the 50th Anniversary Retrospective, Random House is offering, for a limited time, a collectible foil-covered Party Edition of How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

ABOUT CHARLES D. COHEN
When not searching the web for anything and everything Seuss, author/collector extraordinaire Charles D. Cohen is apt to be searching a wide-open mouth for cavities. A graduate of the Tufts University School of Dental Medicine, he has been a dentist for over sixteen years.

Dr. Cohen's interest in Dr. Seuss began when he was a child, and continued in college when he started purchasing early editions of Seuss books. The first piece of Seuss memorabilia he acquired was The Game of Yertle. Today, Dr. Cohen's trove of Seussiana is likely the most comprehensive in the world. It is his hope to create a Dr. Seuss museum to house and protect the pieces for posterity. Cohen resides in South Deerfield, Massachusetts.

About Dr. Seuss
Theodor “Seuss” Geisel is quite simply the most beloved children’s book author of all time. The 44 books he wrote and illustrated under the name Dr. Seuss (and others that he wrote but did not illustrate, including some under the pseudonyms Theo. LeSieg and Rosetta Stone) have been translated into 30 languages. Hundreds of millions of copies have found their way into homes and hearts around the world. Dr. Seuss’s long list of honors includes the Pulitzer Prize and eight honorary doctorates. Works based on his original stories have won three Oscars, three Emmys, three Grammys, and a Peabody. For more information about Dr. Seuss and his works, visit www.seussville.com.

Random House Books for Young Readers is an imprint of the Random House Children’s Books division of Random House, Inc., whose parent company is Bertelsmann AG. Visit us on the Web at www.randomhouse.com/kids.