Dr Seuss books written by the author Theodor Seuss Geisel are among the best known children’s literature in the world.  They capture the imagination of young and old alike and introduce kids to the joy of rhyme and the fascination of good and bad behaviour. 

‘The Cat in the Hat’ (first published in 1957) is a fascinating book about two kids left at home unattended on a rainy day when an imaginary creature in the shape of a skinny cat in a hat comes to visit bringing with it Thing one and Thing two. They proceed to wreak havoc on the house much to the consternation of the goldfish who tries to stop the cat causing chaos.  It ends when the kids catch thing one and thing two and bring the cat under control. He realises what he has done and clears up the house just in time before mom comes home. 

‘The Cat in the Hat’ uses anapaestic tetrameter (a poetic meter) to draw the reader into the book.  It uses two weak beats then a strong beat to emphasise the important words.  Geisel stuck to this rhythm stringently through many of his writings, although in his later life he was not as strict about it.  He also used alliteration to add emphasis and other rhythmic meters to stress words.

‘The Cat in the Hat comes Back’ was the sequel published in 1958 this time the Cat in the Hat brings little cat A which is found inside the cats hat. Cat A shows us cat B and then cat C is revealed and it goes on until the final cat, Cat Z is shown.  The Cat in the Hat eats cake in the bath and leaves a ring of pink which cannot be easily cleaned.  They manage to spread the mess throughout the house and out into the yard while trying to clean up.  Once outside a full scale battle commences spreading the residue over the whole yard.  Finally little cat Z is revealed by V W X and Y he goes VOOM! And everything is cleaned up and all the cats are back in the hat.

Random House was the original publisher for ‘The Cat in the Hat’ and because it became so hugely successful it was decided to set up an independent publishing company with Theodore Geisel as the president. It was named Beginner books. They created a series of books aimed at developing children and encouraging them into the art of reading books. ‘The Cat in the Hat Comes Back’ was the second book in the series. The series continued with such books as ‘Sam and the Firefly’ 1958, ‘Green Eggs and Ham’ 1960, ‘Hop on Pop’ 1963 and ‘Fox in Socks’ 1965. These books played an integral part in the development of childhood reading during these years and indeed are still being reprinted and are as popular as ever.

Beginner Books was bought by Random House in 1960 and became a division of the publishing company. Unlike contemporary books, Geisel or Dr Seuss uses black and white illustrations with usually only one or two other colours. This makes them unusual but does not detract from their popularity.

Some of the Dr Seuss books have been produced as videos for the Beginner Book series others as animated cartoons and more as feature films. The first production of one of Geisel’s books was ‘Horton Hatches the Egg’ made as an animated cartoon by Warner Brothers in 1942. One of the better known live action films is ‘How the Grinch stole Christmas’ released in 2000 and starring Jim Carrey. It is about a beast living in the mountains that plans to steal all the Christmas presents and decorations from the local town to prevent Christmas from coming, only to find that Christmas comes anyway. He realizes that Christmas is more than just presents and decorations it’s about giving and family and caring. He returns all the stolen property and is welcomed into the community of the Who’s. The Cat in the Hat is the first book that I read to my kindergarten class when they arrive in September after the summer vacation. It is usually obvious which children have been read to, prior to their appearance in kindergarten but it is a fact that the Dr Seuss books keep the attention of every child regardless of their literary experience, they hang on every word and enjoy the rhyme and quick fire vocabulary.