History for Kids: The Illustrated Life of Dr. Seuss

"Nonsense wakes up the brain cells. And it helps develop a sense of humor, which is awfully important in this day and age." - Dr. Seuss

In the Charles River Editors' History for Kids series, your children can learn about history's most important people and events in an easy, entertaining, and educational way. This concise but comprehensive listen about Dr. Seuss, who believed that fantasy "is a necessary ingredient for living," will keep your kid's attention all the way to the end.

Born as Theodor Geisel in 1904, Dr. Seuss was attracted to writing humorous stories from a young age, even as a contributor to Dartmouth's humor magazine. During the first 30 years of his life, he wrote humorous short stories, articles, and even comic strips for a variety of publications. Occasionally, he used his middle name, Seuss, to publish. But it was not until the late 1930s and early 1940s that "Dr. Seuss" truly found his niche in children's publications.

His first attempt at a children's story, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, was rejected more than two dozen times by publishers. It was not until the 1950s that Dr. Seuss began publishing some of his most famous and revered titles, including How the Grinch Stole Christmas. In 1954, Houghton Mifflin asked Dr. Seuss to make a title only out of words that first graders could comprehend. The result was his seminal The Cat in the Hat.