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95-546: The first two stories in the book ("The Sneetches" and "The Zax") were later adapted, along with Green Eggs and Ham , into 1973's animated TV musical special Dr. Seuss on the Loose : The Sneetches, The Zax, Green Eggs and Ham with Hans Conried voicing the narrator and both Zax, and Paul Winchell and Bob Holt voicing the Sneetches and Sylvester McMonkey McBean respectively. A 45-minute CGI animated special based on The Sneetches

190-507: A Doctor of Philosophy (D.Phil.) in English literature. At Oxford, he met his future wife Helen Palmer , who encouraged him to give up becoming an English teacher in favor of pursuing drawing as a career. She later recalled that "Ted's notebooks were always filled with these fabulous animals. So I set to work diverting him; here was a man who could draw such pictures; he should be earning a living doing that." Geisel left Oxford without earning

285-495: A Missouri Synod Lutheran and remained in the denomination his entire life. Geisel attended Dartmouth College, graduating in 1925. At Dartmouth, he joined the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and the humor magazine Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern , eventually rising to the rank of editor-in-chief. While at Dartmouth, he was caught drinking gin with nine friends in his room. At the time, the possession and consumption of alcohol

380-796: A brief hiatus from children's literature to illustrate political cartoons, and he worked in the animation and film department of the United States Army . After the war, Geisel returned to writing children's books, writing acclaimed works such as If I Ran the Zoo (1950), Horton Hears a Who! (1955), The Cat in the Hat (1957), How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1957), Green Eggs and Ham (1960), One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish (1960), The Sneetches and Other Stories (1961), The Lorax (1971), The Butter Battle Book (1984), and Oh,

475-437: A car atop the tree, he was originally written as saying "Sam-I-am. You let me be. Not in a car. You let me be!". Seuss changed this to "I would not, could not in a tree. Not in a car! You let me be.", making the outburst less direct and moving the exclamation point away from the command. In another example, he is written as saying "I do not like you, Sam-I-am". The drafts also described the subject as green ham and eggs instead of

570-406: A character who frequently encounters an empty pair of pale-green pants in dark and spooky locations. The character, who is the narrator, is initially afraid of the pants, which are able to stand freely despite the lack of a wearer. However, when he screams for help, the pants also start to cry, and he realizes that "they were just as scared as I!" The empty pants and the narrator become friends. This

665-449: A common bug spray at the time manufactured by Standard Oil of New Jersey . According to Geisel, the wife of an advertising executive in charge of advertising Flit saw Geisel's cartoon at a hairdresser's and urged her husband to sign him. Geisel's first Flit ad appeared on May 31, 1928, and the campaign continued sporadically until 1941. The campaign's catchphrase "Quick, Henry, the Flit!" became

760-752: A degree and returned to the United States in February 1927, where he immediately began submitting writings and drawings to magazines, book publishers, and advertising agencies. Making use of his time in Europe, he pitched a series of cartoons called Eminent Europeans to Life magazine, but the magazine passed on it. His first nationally published cartoon appeared in the July 16, 1927, issue of The Saturday Evening Post . This single $ 25 sale encouraged Geisel to move from Springfield to New York City. Later that year, Geisel accepted

855-464: A job as writer and illustrator at the humor magazine Judge , and he felt financially stable enough to marry Palmer. His first cartoon for Judge appeared on October 22, 1927, and Geisel and Palmer were married on November 29. Geisel's first work signed "Dr. Seuss" was published in Judge about six months after he started working there. In early 1928, one of Geisel's cartoons for Judge mentioned Flit ,

950-568: A number of his motifs are identifiable with structures in his childhood home of Springfield , including examples such as the onion domes of its Main Street and his family's brewery. His endlessly varied but never rectilinear palaces, ramps, platforms, and free-standing stairways are among his most evocative creations. Geisel also drew complex imaginary machines, such as the Audio-Telly-O-Tally-O-Count , from Dr. Seuss's Sleep Book , or

1045-465: A part of popular culture. It spawned a song and was used as a punch line for comedians such as Fred Allen and Jack Benny . As Geisel gained fame for the Flit campaign, his work was in demand and began to appear regularly in magazines such as Life , Liberty and Vanity Fair . The money Geisel earned from his advertising work and magazine submissions made him wealthier than even his most successful Dartmouth classmates. The increased income allowed

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1140-490: A rainy day. There was an inimitable wriggle in your work long before you became a producer of motion pictures and animated cartoons and, as always with the best of humor, behind the fun there has been intelligence, kindness, and a feel for humankind. An Academy Award winner and holder of the Legion of Merit for war film work, you have stood these many years in the academic shadow of your learned friend Dr. Seuss; and because we are sure

1235-449: A rap song by Moxy Früvous and a sketch on Saturday Night Live featuring the minister Jesse Jackson reading the book during a sermon. Green Eggs and Ham has been adapted into stage and television versions. In 1973, it was adapted as an animated television special alongside The Sneetches and The Zax . Originally titled Dr. Seuss on the Loose , the special was later renamed Green Eggs and Ham and Other Stories . The book

1330-483: A sequel, More Boners , published the same year. Encouraged by the books' sales and positive critical reception, Geisel wrote and illustrated an ABC book featuring "very strange animals" that failed to interest publishers. In 1936, Geisel and his wife were returning from an ocean voyage to Europe when the rhythm of the ship's engines inspired the poem that became his first children's book: And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street . Based on Geisel's varied accounts,

1425-609: A sort of "voilà" gesture in which the hand flips outward and the fingers spread slightly backward with the thumb up. This motion is done by Ish in One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish when he creates fish (who perform the gesture with their fins), in the introduction of the various acts of If I Ran the Circus , and in the introduction of the "Little Cats" in The Cat in the Hat Comes Back . He

1520-529: A supporter of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal . His early political cartoons show a passionate opposition to fascism, and he urged action against it both before and after the U.S. entered World War II. His cartoons portrayed the fear of communism as overstated, finding greater threats in the House Committee on Unamerican Activities and those who threatened to cut the U.S.'s "life line" to

1615-456: A title slightly altered from the book's , was released in 1944. Both were nominated for an Academy Award for "Short Subject (Cartoon)" . In 1966, Geisel authorized eminent cartoon artist Chuck Jones —his friend and former colleague from the war—to make a cartoon version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The cartoon was narrated by Boris Karloff , who also provided the voice of the Grinch. It

1710-419: A vocabulary of 50 words. Finding the challenge difficult, Seuss used notes, charts, and checklists to keep track of his progress. The book covers themes of conflict between individuals, though Seuss has said that it lacks any deeper meaning. Green Eggs and Ham was widely praised by critics for its writing and illustration, and the challenge of writing a book in 50 words is regarded as a success. The book has been

1805-469: A vocabulary of only 50 distinct words. The bet was a response to Seuss's previous success, The Cat in the Hat , which was written using 236 distinct words. Seuss took extensive notes to work out how to best use 50 words, creating different charts and checklists. By the time he finished arranging the words, he had memorized many of the statistics of how he used them. Seuss found the restriction especially challenging, and he rewrote many pages before he

1900-465: Is in development for Netflix . The first story in the collection tells of a group of yellow bird-like creatures called the Sneetches, some of whom have a green star on their bellies. At the beginning of the story, Sneetches with stars discriminate against and shun those without. An entrepreneur/ con-artist named Sylvester McMonkey McBean (calling himself the Fix-It-Up Chappie) appears and offers

1995-487: Is often broadcast as an annual Christmas television special . Jones directed an adaptation of Horton Hears a Who! in 1970 and produced an adaptation of The Cat in the Hat in 1971. From 1972 to 1983, Geisel wrote six animated specials that were produced by DePatie-Freleng : The Lorax (1972); Dr. Seuss on the Loose (1973); The Hoober-Bloob Highway (1975); Halloween Is Grinch Night (1977); Pontoffel Pock, Where Are You? (1980); and The Grinch Grinches

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2090-419: Is often suggested as one of the reasons that Geisel's writing was so well received. Geisel's early artwork often employed the shaded texture of pencil drawings or watercolors , but in his children's books of the postwar period, he generally made use of a starker medium—pen and ink—normally using just black, white, and one or two colors. His later books, such as The Lorax , used more colors. Geisel's style

2185-424: Is one of many Dr. Seuss books about a defiance of norms—in this case, the persistence of Sam-I-am after his offer of green eggs and ham is rejected. It explores the underlying social connection between individuals set in opposition to one another, but it does so in a way that appeals to the interests of children. Both characters refuse to move from their decision throughout the book until the adult finally gives in at

2280-525: Is one of the few Seuss works in verse that is not Anapestic tetrameter . In 1998, NATO translated the collection into Serbo-Croatian and planned to distribute 500,000 copies to children in Bosnia and Herzegovina , as part of a campaign to encourage tolerance. This was later scaled back to 50,000 copies at a cost of $ 120,000 as well as looking for a more appropriate source of funding such as an NGO , private charity or corporation, as this expenditure did not meet

2375-408: Is the only one to have more than one syllable. The different words are combined for a total length of 681 words, and the most common words are not and I , which are used 82 and 81 times, respectively. The narrative of Green Eggs and Ham is told in a question-and-answer structure. Consistent use of the name Sam-I-am instead of simply Sam allowed Seuss to maintain meter when rhyming it with

2470-754: The Private Snafu series of adult army training films. While in the Army, he was awarded the Legion of Merit . Our Job in Japan became the basis for the commercially released film Design for Death (1947), a study of Japanese culture that won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film. Gerald McBoing-Boing (1950) was based on an original story by Seuss and won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film . After

2565-765: The Dartmouth Outing Club , eating green eggs and ham for breakfast at the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge . On April 4, 2012, the Dartmouth Medical School was renamed the Audrey and Theodor Geisel School of Medicine in honor of their many years of generosity to the College. Dr. Seuss has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at the 6500 block of Hollywood Boulevard . In 2012, a crater on the planet Mercury

2660-650: The Republican Party ), parts of the press (such as the New York Daily News , Chicago Tribune and Washington Times-Herald ), and others for criticism of Roosevelt, criticism of aid to the Soviet Union, investigation of suspected Communists, and other offences that he depicted as leading to disunity and helping the Nazis, intentionally or inadvertently. In 1942, Geisel turned his energies to direct support of

2755-692: The Springfield Museums Quadrangle . In 2008, Dr. Seuss was inducted into the California Hall of Fame . In 2004, U.S. children's librarians established the annual Theodor Seuss Geisel Award to recognize "the most distinguished American book for beginning readers published in English in the United States during the preceding year". It should "demonstrate creativity and imagination to engage children in reading" from pre-kindergarten to second grade . At Dartmouth College , incoming first-year students participate in pre-matriculation trips run by

2850-660: The economic materialism and consumerism of the Christmas season; and Horton Hears a Who! (1954), about anti- isolationism and internationalism . Seuss's work for children has been criticized for unconscious racist themes. Dr. Seuss Enterprises, the organization that owns the rights to the books, films, TV shows, stage productions, exhibitions, digital media, licensed merchandise, and other strategic partnerships, announced on March 2, 2021, that it will stop publishing and licensing six books. The publications include And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street (1937), If I Ran

2945-467: The pro-life movement in the United States. Geisel and later his widow Audrey objected to this use; according to her attorney, "She doesn't like people to hijack Dr. Seuss characters or material to front their own points of view." In the 1980s, Geisel threatened to sue an anti-abortion group for using this phrase on their stationery, according to his biographer, causing them to remove it. The attorney says he never discussed abortion with either of them, and

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3040-669: The "Minimum Military Requirement" test for NATO common funding eligibility. Green Eggs and Ham Green Eggs and Ham is a children's book by Dr. Seuss . It was published by the Beginner Books imprint of Random House on August 12, 1960. The book follows Sam-I-am as he follows an unnamed man, repeatedly asking him if he would like to try some green eggs and ham before the man eventually tries it and likes it. Seuss began writing Green Eggs and Ham after his editor Bennett Cerf bet him $ 50 (equivalent to $ 515 in 2023) that he could not write an engaging children's book with

3135-469: The "Top 100 Picture Books" in a survey published by School Library Journal – the first of five Dr. Seuss books on the list. In 1967, Green Eggs and Ham ranked as the best-selling children's book. At the end of 2000, it had sold 8,143,088 copies, making it the most popular book by Dr. Seuss and the all-time fourth best-selling hardcover children's book in the United States. At Dr. Seuss's alma mater , Dartmouth College , it became an inside joke that

3230-455: The "most peculiar machine" of Sylvester McMonkey McBean in The Sneetches . Geisel also liked drawing outlandish arrangements of feathers or fur: for example, the 500th hat of Bartholomew Cubbins , the tail of Gertrude McFuzz , and the pet for girls who like to brush and comb, in One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish . Geisel's illustrations often convey motion vividly. He was fond of

3325-410: The 100 most popular children's books. The children ranked Green Eggs and Ham third, just above another Dr. Seuss book, The Cat in the Hat . The teachers ranked it fourth. Teachers ranked it fourth again in a 2007 National Education Association poll. Scholastic Parent & Child magazine placed it #7 among the "100 Greatest Books for Kids" in 2012. That same year, it was ranked number 12 among

3420-405: The 1972–1974 Watergate scandal , in which U.S. president Richard Nixon resigned, by replacing the name of the main character everywhere that it occurred. "Richard M. Nixon, Will You Please Go Now!" was published in major newspapers through the column of his friend Art Buchwald . The line "a person's a person, no matter how small" from Horton Hears a Who! has been used widely as a slogan by

3515-581: The Cat in the Hat (1982). In 1984, he won a Pulitzer Prize Special Citation . His birthday, March 2, has been adopted as the annual date for National Read Across America Day , an initiative focused on reading created by the National Education Association . Geisel was born and raised in Springfield, Massachusetts , the son of Henrietta ( née Seuss) and Theodor Robert Geisel. His father managed

3610-493: The Cat in the Hat (1982). Several of the specials won multiple Emmy Awards. A Soviet paint-on-glass-animated short film was made in 1986 called Welcome , an adaptation of Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose . The last adaptation of Geisel's work before he died was The Butter Battle Book , a television special based on the book of the same name, directed by Ralph Bakshi . A television film titled In Search of Dr. Seuss

3705-501: The Flit campaign led to more advertising work, including for other Standard Oil products like Essomarine boat fuel and Essolube Motor Oil and for other companies like the Ford Motor Company , NBC Radio Network , and Holly Sugar. His first foray into books, Boners , a collection of children's sayings that he illustrated, was published by Viking Press in 1931. It topped The New York Times non-fiction bestseller list and led to

3800-473: The Geisels to move to better quarters and to socialize in higher social circles. They became friends with the wealthy family of banker Frank A. Vanderlip . They also traveled extensively: by 1936, Geisel and his wife had visited 30 countries together. They did not have children, neither kept regular office hours, and they had ample money. Geisel also felt that traveling helped his creativity. Geisel's success with

3895-583: The Hat (1957), How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1957), and Green Eggs and Ham (1960). He received numerous awards throughout his career, but he won neither the Caldecott Medal nor the Newbery Medal . Three of his titles from this period were, however, chosen as Caldecott runners-up (now referred to as Caldecott Honor books): McElligot's Pool (1947), Bartholomew and the Oobleck (1949), and If I Ran

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3990-633: The Hat and subsequent books written for young children achieved significant international success and they remain very popular today. For example, in 2009, Green Eggs and Ham sold 540,000 copies, The Cat in the Hat sold 452,000 copies, and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish (1960) sold 409,000 copies—all outselling the majority of newly published children's books. Geisel went on to write many other children's books, both in his new simplified-vocabulary manner (sold as Beginner Books ) and in his older, more elaborate style. In 1955, Dartmouth awarded Geisel an honorary doctorate of Humane Letters , with

4085-462: The Places You'll Go! (1990). He published over 60 books during his career, which have spawned numerous adaptations , including eleven television specials, five feature films, a Broadway musical , and four television series. He received two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Children's Special for Halloween Is Grinch Night (1978) and Outstanding Animated Program for The Grinch Grinches

4180-455: The Sneetches without stars the chance to get them with his Star-On machine, for three dollars. The treatment is instantly popular, but this upsets the original Star-Bellied Sneetches, as they are in danger of losing their special status. McBean then tells them about his Star-Off machine, costing ten dollars, and the Sneetches who originally had stars happily pay the money to have them removed in order to remain special. However, McBean does not share

4275-809: The U.S. war effort. First, he worked drawing posters for the Treasury Department and the War Production Board . Then, in 1943, he joined the Army as a captain and was commander of the Animation Department of the First Motion Picture Unit of the United States Army Air Forces , where he wrote films that included Your Job in Germany , a 1945 propaganda film about peace in Europe after World War II; Our Job in Japan and

4370-664: The USSR and Stalin, whom he once depicted as a porter carrying "our war load". Geisel supported the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II in order to prevent possible sabotage. Geisel explained his position: But right now, when the Japs are planting their hatchets in our skulls, it seems like a hell of a time for us to smile and warble: "Brothers!" It is a rather flabby battle cry. If we want to win, we've got to kill Japs, whether it depresses John Haynes Holmes or not. We can get palsy-walsy afterward with those that are left. After

4465-408: The Zoo (1950), McElligot's Pool (1947), On Beyond Zebra! (1955), Scrambled Eggs Super! (1953) and The Cat's Quizzer (1976). According to the organization, the books "portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong" and are no longer being published. Geisel wrote most of his books in anapestic tetrameter , a poetic meter employed by many poets of the English literary canon. This

4560-520: The Zoo (1950). Dr. Seuss also wrote the musical and fantasy film The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. , which was released in 1953. The movie was a critical and financial failure, and Geisel never attempted another feature film. During the 1950s, he also published a number of illustrated short stories, mostly in Redbook magazine. Some of these were later collected (in volumes such as The Sneetches and Other Stories ) or reworked into independent books ( If I Ran

4655-493: The Zoo ). A number have never been reprinted since their original appearances. In May 1954, Life published a report on illiteracy among school children which concluded that children were not learning to read because their books were boring. William Ellsworth Spaulding was the director of the education division at Houghton Mifflin (he later became its chairman), and he compiled a list of 348 words that he felt were important for first-graders to recognize. He asked Geisel to cut

4750-420: The biographer says Geisel never expressed a public opinion on the subject. After Seuss's death, Audrey gave financial support to Planned Parenthood . Geisel made a point of not beginning to write his stories with a moral in mind, stating that "kids can see a moral coming a mile off." He was not against writing about issues, however; he said that "there's an inherent moral in any story", and he remarked that he

4845-512: The book was banned in China from 1965 to 1991 because it supposedly contained themes of "early Marxism"— that is to say, Soviet-style socialism (which was at odds with Chinese socialism ). Allegedly, the breakfast was interpreted as a metaphor for Soviet socialism, with many initially rejecting it but eventually coming to enjoy it after "trying" it. Green Eggs and Ham was widely praised upon its release, and reviewers overwhelmingly celebrated that

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4940-520: The book was rejected by between 20 and 43 publishers. According to Geisel, he was walking home to burn the manuscript when a chance encounter with an old Dartmouth classmate led to its publication by Vanguard Press . Geisel wrote four more books before the US entered World War II. This included The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins in 1938, as well as The King's Stilts and The Seven Lady Godivas in 1939, all of which were in prose, atypically for him. This

5035-411: The book was written using only 50 distinct words. Emily Maxwell of The New Yorker commented on Seuss's use of the vocabulary, saying that "reading him, one is hardly aware that there are more than fifty words". It was praised for its rhythm and illustrations as well as its use of rhymes. The humorous nature of the book was also received positively. The Saturday Review of Literature praised

5130-433: The book's pacing, paying attention specifically to the opening pages in which Sam-I-am introduces himself with a placard. Professor of children's literature Philip Nel similarly lauded the introduction for introducing the conflict of the book visually through Sam-I-am's active movement and the unnamed man's avoidance. In 1999, the National Education Association conducted an online survey of children and teachers, seeking

5225-436: The book's title was a reference to the breakfast food served in the on-campus cafeteria. When Dr. Seuss received an honorary doctorate from Princeton University in 1985, the graduating class rose and recited Green Eggs and Ham in its entirety for him. Dr. Seuss reportedly spent the rest of his life enduring gifts of green eggs and ham, which he described as "deplorable stuff". Later in life, he said that Green Eggs and Ham

5320-398: The book. An upcoming graphic novel Green Eggs and Ham Take a Hike written and illustrated by James Kochalka will be released on January 7, 2025. In the graphic novel, the unnamed man's name is Walter. Dr. Seuss Theodor Seuss Geisel ( / s uː s ˈ ɡ aɪ z əl , z ɔɪ s -/ sooss GHY -zəl, zoyss -⁠ ; March 2, 1904 – September 24, 1991)

5415-411: The citation: Creator and fancier of fanciful beasts, your affinity for flying elephants and man-eating mosquitoes makes us rejoice you were not around to be Director of Admissions on Mr. Noah's ark. But our rejoicing in your career is far more positive: as author and artist you singlehandedly have stood as St. George between a generation of exhausted parents and the demon dragon of unexhausted children on

5510-501: The deuce And you shouldn't rejoice If you're calling him Seuss. He pronounces it Soice (or Zoice) Geisel switched to the anglicized pronunciation because it "evoked a figure advantageous for an author of children's books to be associated with— Mother Goose " and because most people used this pronunciation. He added the "Doctor (abbreviated Dr.)" to his pen name because his father had always wanted him to practice medicine. For books that Geisel wrote and others illustrated, he used

5605-455: The end. Green Eggs and Ham only uses 50 words: a , am , and , anywhere , are , be , boat , box , car , could , dark , do , eat , eggs , fox , goat , good , green , ham , here , house , I , if , in , let , like , may , me , mouse , not , on , or , rain , Sam , say , see , so , thank , that , the , them , there , they , train , tree , try , will , with , would , and you . Of these words, anywhere

5700-407: The eponymous green eggs and ham . The title of Green Eggs and Ham is a play on the common phrase ham and eggs , inverting it to draw the reader's attention. Literature professor Donald E. Pease described Sam-I-am as "a young Grinch -like creature". One academic, Tim Wolf, argued that Sam-I-am has no distinguishing gender or sex and could be read as male or female. It has been reported that

5795-454: The family brewery and was later appointed to supervise Springfield's public park system by Mayor John A. Denison after the brewery closed because of Prohibition . Mulberry Street in Springfield, made famous in his first children's book And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street , is near his boyhood home on Fairfield Street. The family was of Jewish descent. Geisel was raised as

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5890-468: The final wording, green eggs and ham . Dr. Seuss finished writing Green Eggs and Ham in the early spring of 1960. A reading was scheduled for April 19 in the office of Louise Bonino at Random House . These readings were often attended by the entire staff, but Cerf was out of the office that day, so a dinner party was arranged for the reading. The reading ended with applause, but Seuss remained self-critical and scrutinized pages that he felt did not get

5985-436: The list to 250 words and to write a book using only those words. Spaulding challenged Geisel to "bring back a book children can't put down". Nine months later, Geisel completed The Cat in the Hat , using 236 of the words given to him. It retained the drawing style, verse rhythms, and all the imaginative power of Geisel's earlier works but, because of its simplified vocabulary, it could be read by beginning readers. The Cat in

6080-586: The mail from prisoner Charles Jay Wolff, who was protesting against the prison diet. Muirhead ordered the egg destroyed and rendered his judgment in the style of Seuss. Senator Ted Cruz read the book on the floor of the United States Senate during his filibuster over the funding of the Affordable Care Act . Musician will.i.am has stated that his moniker is inspired by the story. Many parodies of Green Eggs and Ham have been created, including

6175-435: The man agrees to try the dish Sam-I-am has offered, he realizes that he does like green eggs and ham. He announces that he will eat them anywhere, and he thanks Sam-I-am. Green Eggs and Ham was written by Theodor Seuss Geisel under his pen name Dr. Seuss. He wrote the book after his editor at Random House , Bennett Cerf , bet him $ 50 (equivalent to $ 515 in 2023) that he could not write an engaging children's book using

6270-416: The moment when the Grinch conceives his awful plan to ruin Christmas. For most of his career, Geisel was reluctant to have his characters marketed in contexts outside of his own books. However, he did permit the creation of several animated cartoons, an art form in which he had gained experience during World War II, and he gradually relaxed his policy as he aged. The first adaptation of one of Geisel's works

6365-608: The name "Dr. Seuss" as an undergraduate at Dartmouth College and as a graduate student at Lincoln College, Oxford . He left Oxford in 1927 to begin his career as an illustrator and cartoonist for Vanity Fair , Life , and various other publications. He also worked as an illustrator for advertising campaigns , including for FLIT and Standard Oil , and as a political cartoonist for the New York newspaper PM . He published his first children's book And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street in 1937. During World War II , he took

6460-421: The pen name "Theo LeSieg", starting with I Wish That I Had Duck Feet published in 1965. "LeSieg" is "Geisel" spelled backward. Geisel also published one book under the name Rosetta Stone, 1975's Because a Little Bug Went Ka-Choo!! , a collaboration with Michael K. Frith . Frith and Geisel chose the name in honor of Geisel's second wife Audrey, whose maiden name was Stone. Geisel was a liberal Democrat and

6555-532: The prejudices of the Sneetches and allows the recently starred Sneetches through this machine as well. Ultimately, this escalates, with the Sneetches running from one machine to the next... This continues until the Sneetches are penniless and McBean departs as a rich man, amused by their folly. Despite his assertion that "you can't teach a Sneetch", the Sneetches learn from this experience that neither Plain-Bellied nor Star-Bellied Sneetches are superior, and they are able to get along and become friends. "The Sneetches"

6650-564: The reaction he had hoped. Phyllis Cerf had intended to announce Green Eggs and Ham with two other children's books, Are You My Mother? and Put Me in the Zoo , and a publicist was sent to request that reviewers postpone reviews after advance sheets had been distributed early. Green Eggs and Ham was published on August 12, 1960. At the time, approximately three million Dr. Seuss books had already been sold. Dr. Seuss believed that children's books had more power to do good or evil for society than any other medium, and Green Eggs and Ham

6745-453: The rest of the story lists unusual and amusing names she wishes she had given them, such as "Bodkin Van Horn", "Hoos Foos", "Snimm", "Hot-Shot", "Shadrack", "Stuffy", "Stinky", "Putt-Putt", "Buffalo Bill", "Oliver Boliver Butt", "Biffalo Buff" or "Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate". The story ends with the statement that "she didn't do it, and now it's too late". "What Was I Scared Of?" tells the tale of

6840-407: The subject of multiple adaptations, including a television series of the same name in 2019. Sam-I-am offers an unnamed man a plate of green eggs and ham, but the man tells him that he hates the food. Sam continues to follow the man, asking him to eat the food in some locations (house, box, car, tree, train, dark, rain, boat) and with some animals (mouse, fox, goat) for dining partners. Finally, when

6935-800: The time has come when the good doctor would want you to walk by his side as a full equal and because your College delights to acknowledge the distinction of a loyal son, Dartmouth confers on you her Doctorate of Humane Letters. Geisel joked that he would now have to sign "Dr. Dr. Seuss". His wife was ill at the time, so he delayed accepting it until June 1956. Geisel's wife Helen had a long struggle with illnesses. On October 23, 1967, Helen died by suicide. On August 5, 1968, Geisel married Audrey Dimond with whom he had reportedly been having an affair. Although he devoted most of his life to writing children's books, Geisel had no children of his own, saying of children: "You have 'em; I'll entertain 'em." Audrey added that Geisel "lived his whole life without children and he

7030-604: The time, it was awarded every five years. He won a special Pulitzer Prize in 1984 citing his "contribution over nearly half a century to the education and enjoyment of America's children and their parents". Geisel died of cancer on September 24, 1991, at his home in the La Jolla community of San Diego at the age of 87. His ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean. On December 1, 1995, four years after his death, University of California, San Diego 's University Library Building

7125-479: The two Zax then face off against each other with their arms crossed. The Zax stand so long that eventually a highway overpass is built around them. The story ends with the Zax still standing there "unbudged" in their tracks. "Too Many Daves" is a very short story about a mother, Mrs. McCave, who named all 23 of her sons Dave. This causes minor problems in the family when she calls one of them, but instead, they all come, and

7220-532: The war, Geisel and his wife moved to the La Jolla community of San Diego , California, where he returned to writing children's books. He published most of his books through Random House in North America and William Collins, Sons (later HarperCollins ) internationally. He wrote many, including such favorites as If I Ran the Zoo (1950), Horton Hears a Who! (1955), If I Ran the Circus (1956), The Cat in

7315-450: The war, Geisel overcame his feelings of animosity and re-examined his view, using his book Horton Hears a Who! (1954) as an allegory for the American post-war occupation of Japan , as well as dedicating the book to a Japanese friend. Geisel converted a copy of one of his famous children's books, Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now! , into a polemic shortly before the end of

7410-424: The war. One cartoon depicted Japanese Americans being handed TNT in anticipation of a "signal from home", while other cartoons deplored the racism at home against Jews and blacks that harmed the war effort. His cartoons were strongly supportive of President Roosevelt 's handling of the war, combining the usual exhortations to ration and contribute to the war effort with frequent attacks on Congress (especially

7505-474: Was "subversive as hell." Geisel's books express his views on a wide variety of social and political issues: The Lorax (1971), about environmentalism and anti-consumerism ; The Sneetches (1961), about racial equality ; The Butter Battle Book (1984), about the arms race ; Yertle the Turtle (1958), about Adolf Hitler and anti-authoritarianism ; How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1957), criticizing

7600-539: Was adapted as a video game for the Game Boy Advance , Dr. Seuss' Green Eggs and Ham, published by NewKidCo and released on November 17, 2003. A television adaptation was released by Netflix in 2019, also titled Green Eggs and Ham . It stars Adam DeVine as Sam-I-Am, a wildlife protector, and Michael Douglas as the unnamed man, a failed inventor who is given the name Guy-Am-I for the series. The show introduces new characters, settings, and plots independently from

7695-546: Was also fond of drawing hands with interlocked fingers, making it look as though his characters were twiddling their thumbs. Geisel also follows the cartoon tradition of showing motion with lines , like in the sweeping lines that accompany Sneelock's final dive in If I Ran the Circus . Cartoon lines are also used to illustrate the action of the senses—sight, smell, and hearing—in The Big Brag, and lines even illustrate "thought", as in

7790-496: Was an animated short film based on Horton Hatches the Egg , animated at Leon Schlesinger Productions in 1942 and directed by Bob Clampett . As part of George Pal 's Puppetoons theatrical cartoon series for Paramount Pictures , two of Geisel's works were adapted into stop-motion films by George Pal. The first, The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins , was released in 1943. The second, And to Think I Saw It on Mulberry Street , with

7885-406: Was an American children's author and cartoonist . He is known for his work writing and illustrating more than 60 books under the pen name Dr. Seuss ( / s uː s , z uː s / sooss, zooss ). His work includes many of the most popular children's books of all time, selling over 600 million copies and being translated into more than 20 languages by the time of his death. Geisel adopted

7980-563: Was followed by Horton Hatches the Egg in 1940, in which Geisel returned to the use of verse. As World War II began, Geisel turned to political cartoons, drawing over 400 in two years as editorial cartoonist for the left-leaning New York City daily newspaper, PM . Geisel's political cartoons, later published in Dr. Seuss Goes to War , denounced Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini and were highly critical of non-interventionists ("isolationists"), such as Charles Lindbergh , who opposed US entry into

8075-660: Was illegal under Prohibition laws, which remained in place between 1920 and 1933. As a result of this infraction, Dean Craven Laycock insisted that Geisel resign from all extracurricular activities, including the Jack-O-Lantern . To continue working on the magazine without the administration's knowledge, Geisel began signing his work with the pen name "Seuss". He was encouraged in his writing by professor of rhetoric W. Benfield Pressey, whom he described as his "big inspiration for writing" at Dartmouth. Upon graduating from Dartmouth, he entered Lincoln College, Oxford, intending to earn

8170-535: Was intended by Seuss as a satire of discrimination between races and cultures, and was specifically inspired by his opposition to antisemitism . In "The Zax", a North-going Zax and a South-going Zax meet face to face on the Prairie of Prax. Each asks the other to make way, but neither budges, saying it is against their upbringing to move any other way. Because they stubbornly refuse to move (east, west, or any direction except their respective headings) to get past each other,

8265-507: Was named after Geisel. Geisel's most famous pen name is regularly pronounced / s uː s / , an anglicized pronunciation of his German name (the standard German pronunciation is German pronunciation: [ˈzɔʏ̯s] ). He himself noted that it rhymed with "voice" (his own pronunciation being / s ɔɪ s / ). Alexander Laing, one of his collaborators on the Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern , wrote of it: You're wrong as

8360-515: Was released in 1994, which adapted many of Seuss's stories. After Geisel died of cancer at the age of 87 in 1991, his widow Audrey Geisel took charge of licensing matters until her death in 2018. Since then, licensing is controlled by the nonprofit Dr. Seuss Enterprises. Audrey approved a live-action feature-film version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas starring Jim Carrey , as well as a Seuss-themed Broadway musical called Seussical , and both premiered in 2000. In 2003, another live-action film

8455-406: Was released, this time an adaptation of The Cat in the Hat that featured Mike Myers as the title character. Audrey Geisel spoke critically of the film, especially the casting of Myers as the Cat in the Hat, and stated that she would not allow any further live-action adaptations of Geisel's books. However, a first animated CGI feature film adaptation of Horton Hears a Who! was approved, and

8550-544: Was renamed Geisel Library in honor of Geisel and Audrey for the generous contributions that they made to the library and their devotion to improving literacy. In 2002, the Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden opened in Springfield, Massachusetts , featuring sculptures of Geisel and of many of his characters. In 2017, the Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum opened next to the Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden in

8645-399: Was satisfied with the rhymes. The drafts were typed on rice paper , which Seuss attached to his illustrations. His wife Helen Palmer sometimes placed his discarded drafts back on his desk in the hope that he would approve of them after looking at them a second time, though he rarely did. Early drafts had the unnamed man speak more aggressively to Sam-I-am. When the two characters were in

8740-409: Was the first of Seuss's Beginner Books to carry a lesson for children. Despite this, Dr. Seuss has said that there is no deeper meaning in the book, insisting that "the only meaning was that Bennett Cerf, my publisher, bet me fifty bucks I couldn't write a book using only fifty words". Green Eggs and Ham reverses the traditional structure of an adult trying to convince a child to try new foods. It

8835-622: Was the only book of his that still made him laugh. The Green Eggs and Ham Cafe opened in the Seuss Landing island at the Universal Islands of Adventure theme park in 1999. It closed in 2015 before reopening in 2019. The cafe serves the titular green eggs and ham as well as other foods featured in Dr. Seuss books. U.S. District Court Judge James Muirhead referenced Green Eggs and Ham in his September 21, 2007, court ruling after receiving an egg in

8930-453: Was unique—his figures are often "rounded" and somewhat droopy. This is true, for instance, of the faces of the Grinch and the Cat in the Hat . Almost all his buildings and machinery were devoid of straight lines when they were drawn, even when he was representing real objects. For example, If I Ran the Circus shows a droopy hoisting crane and a droopy steam calliope . Geisel evidently enjoyed drawing architecturally elaborate objects, and

9025-484: Was very happy without children." Audrey oversaw Geisel's estate until her death on December 19, 2018, at the age of 97. Geisel was awarded an honorary doctorate of Humane Letters (L.H.D.) from Whittier College in 1980. He also received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal from the professional children's librarians in 1980, recognizing his "substantial and lasting contributions to children's literature". At

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