Theodor Seuss Geisel

Dr. Seuss was born on March, 2 1904. Some people might think Dr. Seuss’ first name is Seuss. They would be mistaken; his full name is Theodor Seuss Geisel. He was a writer of children’s books; numerous of his books have hidden meanings behind them. When Ted became famous he was an instant success. Dr. Seuss has several quotes. One famous quote was “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.” This quote means that you have all the things you need, so get out there and make the right choices and make your wildest dreams come true. That is one famous quote that inspires me to make my dreams come true.

Theodor Seuss Geisel had many obstacles to overcome. It wasn’t just a slide his whole life because he became famous. He had to work hard to get where he got. One obstacle was getting over that he was being persecuted because of his ethnic background. This happened because when World War 1 started, he and his sister had to hide that they were German so they wouldn’t get excluded in school. His father and grandfather owned a brewery. It was called “Geisel Brewery.” When the war started they changed the name to “Liberty Brewery.” They changed the name for financial purposes, so they wouldn’t go out of business. People think that his books were written about his personal experiences. The book “Put Me in the Zoo” is an example of his childhood persecution. This is like his childhood persecution because there’s an animal that they don’t want in the zoo because he is yellow with red polka dots and he can move his polka dots around his body. Another obstacle is was when he was caught with beer in his apartment with ten other friends. Meanwhile there was a law that you weren’t allowed to possess alcohol. One of Seuss’ biggest dreams was to become editor and chief of “Jack-o-Lantern” a humor magazine in his college’s school paper. When he got caught with beer in his apartment his consequence was to stop being editor and chief of “Jacko” anymore. Theodor didn’t let that stop him, so he still did cartoons for the magazine, but he just signed his cartoons with the name Seuss. He did this because no one knew his middle name.

Geisel also had accomplishments in his lifetime, like getting his first doctorate degree. When he was in college he signed his cartoons with the name Seuss. When he got his doctorate degree he could now put Dr. in the front of it. Throughout his life he got eight doctorate degrees. One of the most special to him was the one he got from Princeton in 1985. Why was this so special to him you might ask, because the citation reprinted in Dr. Seuss. Another accomplishment was when his very first book was published in 1937. It was called “And To Think I Saw it On Mulberry Street.” This book was rejected 27 times before it got published by Vanguard Press. This shows that Dr. Seuss had no plan on giving up. He persevered and he got where he wanted to be.

I always wondered who Dr. Seuss married. Dr. Seuss married twice; the first woman he married was Helen Palmer. Ted and Helen met in college in class. Helen said to Theodor after she saw his cartoons, "Why are you wasting your time in school? Your cartoons are great. You should make them into a living.” Later Dr. Seuss took her advice and later, on November 29, 1927, took her hand in marriage. Helen died on October 23, 1967. After she died Seuss married an old friend, Audrey Stone. She influenced some of his later books and she became the president of Dr. Seuss’ enterprise.

Dr. Seuss died on September 24, 1991. Ted wrote and illustrated 44 children’s books. He had 222 million and more copies of his books sold by the time he died. His classics like “Green Eggs and Ham”, “One fish, Two fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish”, and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” are still being sold today. Dr. Seuss is my hero because he inspires me to be a creative writer. Dr. Seuss’ books will live on forever and so will Dr. Seuss’ legacy.