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So in an unusual act of sharing
an author, Houghton Mifflin and Random House asked Ted
to write a children’s primer using 220 new-reader
vocabulary words; the end result was The Cat in
the Hat. Houghton Mifflin reserved textbook rights
and Random House reserved retail trade rights. While
schools were hesitant to adopt it as an official primer,
children and parents swarmed for copies.
Though Ted’s road to children’s books had
many twists and turns, The Cat in the Hat catapulted
him from pioneer in children’s literature to definitive
children’s book author illustrator, a position
he has held unofficially for many decades since.
Personal Life and Interests
Art
A doodler at heart, Ted often remarked—with a
twinkle in his eye—that he never really learned
to draw. His school notebooks often included bizarre
creatures that framed sporadic notes he had taken in
class. While his work is very distinct to adults and
children, Janet Schulman—his editor for the last
11 years of his life—admits that he despised when
his writing and illustrations were referred to as “whimsical.”
Ted was also very, very particular about color. According
to Cathy Goldsmith, his art director from 1980 through
1991, his sense of color was very idiosyncratic (which
means the colors he used were very distinctly and recognizably
‘Seuss’).
His paintings might not have been considered serious
by critics’ standards, but Ted took his painting
very seriously—it relaxed him. Using watercolor,
gouache, ink, or casein, Ted would create vivid scenes
with skewed, nonsensical perspectives and images. He
would often contrast bright colors against a much darker
background, creating an illusion of the subject popping
out of the painting. While he longed for critical recognition
that he was an artist, Ted would not sell his paintings
out of fear of critics’ rejection.
When Ted needed to clear his thoughts or relieve a creative
block, he often took an afternoon walk through his garden.
Ted considered tending to his garden and trees another
form of art, and when he worked in this “media,”
he created a soft, pastoral setting.
According to Ted, however, his greatest work wasn’t
a particular book or lavish gardens. It was the Lion
Wading Pool at Wild Animal Park in San Diego, which
he donated in 1973. (Dr. Seuss from Then to Now,
p. 80)
Helen Palmer Geisel
Helen Palmer and Ted Geisel were classmates at Oxford
University. It was Helen who first suggested that Ted
draw for a living. While Helen was a tremendous support
editorially, artistically, and administratively during
much of Ted’s career, she was an accomplished author
too. One of her books, Do You Know What I’m
Going to Do Next Saturday?, was listed as one of
the best juveniles by The New York Times in 1963.
(Morgan, p. 182) Along with Ted and Phyllis Cerf, Helen
was also a founder of Beginner Books, a young reader’s
division of Random House Children’s Books. Later
in life, Helen suffered from frail health, including cancer.
She died on October 23, 1967. Various
Friends
Ted was quiet and almost shy until he got to know a
person better. He had a delightful sense of humor and
enjoyed friends who took part in his mischief.
Publisher Bennett Cerf was perhaps the most influential
figure in Ted’s early publishing career. Cerf
was the mastermind behind the sharing agreement with
Houghton Mifflin and also orchestrated the birth of
Random House’s Beginner Books division. It was
Cerf who wagered that Ted couldn’t write a book
using 50 words or less, prompting Ted to write Green
Eggs and Ham. Cerf had the vision to see that Ted
was going to turn the children’s book industry
upside down, and he definitely wanted to be a part of
it, so he created Beginner Books. Their friendship extended
far beyond the walls of Random House, however, and by
all accounts was very unique and special.
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