My Book about Me

( 44 )

Overview

Encourages children to find out about themselves, while having fun writing and drawing their own biographies.  

Dr. Seuss encourages children to find out about themselves, while having fun writing and drawing their own biographies. Full color.

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More About This Book

Overview

Encourages children to find out about themselves, while having fun writing and drawing their own biographies.  

Dr. Seuss encourages children to find out about themselves, while having fun writing and drawing their own biographies. Full color.

Read More Show Less

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780394800936
  • Publisher: Random House Children's Books
  • Publication date: 9/28/1969
  • Series: Classic Seuss Series
  • Pages: 72
  • Sales rank: 11,372
  • Age range: 6 - 8 Years
  • Product dimensions: 8.31 (w) x 11.30 (h) x 0.45 (d)

Meet the Author

Dr. Seuss was born Theodor Geisel in Springfield, Massachusetts on March 2, 1904.  After attending Dartmouth College and Oxford University, he began a career in advertising.  His advertising cartoons, featuring Quick, Henry, the Flit!,  appeared in several leading American magazines.  Dr. Seuss's first children's book, And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street, hit the market in 1937, and the world of children's literature was changed forever!  In 1957, Seuss's The Cat in the Hat became the prototype for one of Random House's best- selling series, Beginner Books.  This popular series combined engaging stories with outrageous illustrations and playful sounds to teach basic reading skills.  Brilliant, playful, and always respectful of children, Dr. Seuss charmed his way into the consciousness of four generations of youngsters and parents.  In the process, he helped kids learn to read.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1984 and three Academy Awards, Seuss was the author and illustrator of 44 children's books, some of which have been made into audiocassettes, animated television specials, and videos for children of all ages.  Even after his death in 1991, Dr. Seuss continues to be the best-selling author of children's books in the world.

Biography

Now that generations of readers have been reared on The Cat in the Hat and Fox in Socks, it's easy to forget how colorless most children's books were before Dr. Seuss reinvented the genre. When the editorial cartoonist Theodor Seuss Geisel wrote And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street in 1936, the book was turned down by 27 publishers, many of whom said it was "too different." Geisel was about to burn his manuscript when it was rescued and published, under the pen name Dr. Seuss, by a college classmate.

Over the next two decades, Geisel concocted such delightfully loopy tales as The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins and Horton Hears a Who. Most of his books earned excellent reviews, and three received Caldecott Honor Awards. But it was the 1957 publication of The Cat in the Hat that catapulted Geisel to celebrity.

Rudolf Flesch's book Why Johnny Can't Read, along with a related Life magazine article, had recently charged that children's primers were too pallid and bland to inspire an interest in reading. The Cat in the Hat, written with 220 words from a first-grade vocabulary list, "worked like a karate chop on the weary little world of Dick, Jane and Spot," as Ellen Goodman wrote in The Detroit Free Press. With its vivid illustrations, rhyming text and topsy-turvy plot, Geisel's book for beginning readers was anything but bland. It sold nearly a million copies within three years.

Geisel was named president of Beginner Books, a new venture of Random House, where he worked with writers and artists like P.D. Eastman, Michael Frith, Al Perkins, and Roy McKie, some of whom collaborated with him on book projects. For books he wrote but didn't illustrate, Geisel used the pen name Theo LeSieg (LeSieg is Geisel spelled backwards).

As Dr. Seuss, he continued to write bestsellers. Some, like Green Eggs and Ham and the tongue-twisting Fox in Socks, were aimed at beginning readers. Others could be read by older children or read aloud by parents, who were often as captivated as their kids by Geisel's wit and imagination. Geisel's visual style appealed to television and film directors, too: The animator Chuck Jones, who had worked with Geisel on a series of Army training films, brought How the Grinch Stole Christmas! to life as a hugely popular animated TV special in 1966. A live-action movie starring Jim Carrey as the Grinch was released in 2000.

Many Dr. Seuss stories have serious undertones: The Butter Battle Book, for example, parodies the nuclear arms race. But whether he was teaching vocabulary words or values, Geisel never wrote plodding lesson books. All his stories are animated by a lively sense of visual and verbal play. At the time of his death in 1991, his books had sold more than 200 million copies. Bennett Cerf, Geisel's publisher, liked to say that of all the distinguished authors he had worked with, only one was a genius: Dr. Seuss.

Good To Know

The Cat in the Hat was written at the urging of editor William Spaulding, who insisted that a book for first-graders should have no more than 225 words. Later, Bennett Cerf bet Geisel $50 that he couldn't write a book with just 50 words. Geisel won the bet with Green Eggs and Ham, though to his recollection, Cerf never paid him the $50.

Geisel faced another challenge in 1974, when his friend Art Buchwald dared him to write a political book. Geisel picked up a copy of Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now! and a pen, crossed out each mention of the name "Marvin K. Mooney," and replaced it with "Richard M. Nixon." Buchwald reprinted the results in his syndicated column. Nine days later, President Nixon announced his resignation.

The American Heritage Dictionary says the word "nerd" first appeared in print in the Dr. Seuss book If I Ran the Zoo: "And then, just to show them, I'll sail to Ka-Troo / And bring back an It-Kutch a Preep and a Proo / A Nerkle a Nerd and a Seersucker, too!" The word "grinch," after the title character in How the Grinch Stole Christmas, is defined in Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary as a killjoy or spoilsport.

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    1. Also Known As:
      Theodor Seuss Geisel (full name); also: Theo LeSieg, Rosetta Stone
    1. Date of Birth:
      March 2, 1904
    2. Place of Birth:
      Springfield, Massachusetts
    1. Date of Death:
      September 4, 1991
    2. Place of Death:
      La Jolla, California

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4.5
( 44 )
Rating Distribution

5 Star

(30)

4 Star

(6)

3 Star

(5)

2 Star

(2)

1 Star

(1)

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See All Sort by: Showing 1 – 20 of 44 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted August 24, 2009

    This is an amazing book!

    I recieved this book when I was about 8 years old. My sister created one too, and I even look back on it 10 years later and want to do another one! They are so fun to complete,and you really get to know yourself doing it. As a child I got so excited to work on my own book, and I thought it was so neat that you could do it all yourself! It's also a good project idea for school and an amazing keepsake!

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted September 21, 2011

    Great Book for 7 year olds

    I gave this book to my children when they were in first grade and they had a great time filling it out. We still have it today and it is interesting to see their handwriting and what they wrote. Just purchased another to give to my oldest grandchild for her 7th birthday.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted March 1, 2011

    I remember my "My Book about Me"

    I had this book as a child and remember drawing and redrawing my nose! I also have several footprints and handprints outlined in the book. It was a book I used again and again and I still enjoy looking at it now.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted April 17, 2010

    Every Child Should Have One

    I was given this when I was 7 and loved working on it and love looking at it 40 years later! I've given one to each of my nephews and niece at the same age. A very special way to remember who you were at a young age!

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted April 8, 2010

    2nd Generation Loves This Book!

    I bought "My Book About Me" for my 6-year old granddaughter, because my daughter (her mother) was anxious for her to have it. My daughter loved this book when she was a first grader over 30 years ago, and it is still as much fun. As soon as she had the book unwrapped, she began reading it and looking for a pencil to fill in the blanks. She had to do some research on her own to get some of the family information to fill in, and she asked her mother and me lots of questions. This book gives a child a wonderful sense of accomplishement as well as a great sense of self. It's also a good tool to teach her where to look for information and how to ask questions to get the answers she needs. It's the perfect tool for family interaction. I hope it is still around for her daughter!

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted April 2, 2010

    My daughter loves it!

    This is a great book for children. It gives them hours of entertainment that is not electronic and allows them to learn about themselves and their families. I think it is a great gift for any child over 7.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted March 13, 2010

    Wonderful gift for any child. Great keepsake for kids and parents.

    Each of my kids had their own copy of this interactive book. I have given it several times as a gift. It is lots of fun for the right age (those learning to count and about their colors, etc.) I highly recommend it.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 13, 2010

    Lots of Fun

    I loved working on this book with my six year old daughter. Counting all of the lights in our house was a bit much, but she really enjoyed going around getting autographs from our mailman, UPS driver, policeman, as well as others. It's a lot of fun as she's learning how to write.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 3, 2010

    Wonderful book for children

    I bought this book for my children when they were young, and they had so much fun with the books. They are now married and have their own children, and they still have their origianl books.
    I have now bought the books for my 2 oldest grandchildren, and plan to buy it for all my grandchildren as they reach the appropriate age.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 7, 2009

    Great books for kids about themselves

    My granddaughters love it since they get to write it themselves. Their Moms enjoy listening to the girls talk about what they are write and it will be a great memory for the girls later to share with their kids.

    Wonderful idea and a great book.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted September 26, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    I Loved using this book!!!

    Recently my children turned 1 & 2 and I decided to have a Cat in the Hat themed party for them. I found this great Dr Seuss book, My Book About Me, and filled it in for each of them. I then displayed a book for each child in our "sign in" table. Guests loved reading about the kids. The information in the book is not your typical info. on kids so they really got a kick out of it. I kept the books and look forward to giving it to our kids one day:)

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted June 20, 2009

    Perfect for K-3 Kids!

    For those with short attention spans, this is a two-hour activity, and for those children who follow each and every step, it could take days. Either way, it's fun all the way - even for children who are not yet reading and need help with writing. The young "author" counts the steps in the house, reveals his/her favorite things, draws pictures, answers questions, and creates an autobiography with guidance from a master children's author. School lessons are painlessly reinforced and a beautiful keepsake is created.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 3, 2007

    LOVE IT!!!!!

    We got it for our 6 year old and now I am ordering one for our 13 year old and 3 of her friends. Its fun for everyone. Love it

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted May 10, 2013

    Fun for Kids

    Both of my daughters have this book. My oldest is 12 and she filled this book out at age 6. My youngest daughter is now 6 and she is filling it out. It's fun to look back years later and see what things have changed and see my girls laughing together while reading it.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 24, 2011

    very good keepsake

    very good book for your child to include their self into a book and record things about their self.

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  • Posted October 4, 2011

    The Perfect Present!

    My daughter got this for her 6th bday and we LOVED it so much that it has now become our staple gift for others! Everyone we've gifted this to, ages 3 to 9, has called it PERFECT! For a kid, this is an empowering self book. As a teacher, the teachable moments in this book are many. As a parent, the memories this book records are priceless! PS. My daughter carries this book to school in her backpack Everyday!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted August 16, 2009

    cameron

    i love my mom

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  • Anonymous

    Posted June 11, 2009

    Classic! Time-less!

    I had this exact same book when I was a little girl! I actually remember filling out parts of it; and it is still on the bookshelf at my Mother's house. When I gave it to my 5 year old daughter she couldn't wait to start working on it! We've since given it as gifts to her friends also.

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  • Posted May 24, 2009

    A memoir

    I have each of my children fill this out when they turn six so that we may look back at their likes, dislikes, fears and memories in the future!

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  • Posted March 16, 2009

    CHILDREN LOVE TO TALK ABOUT THEIR LIKES AND DISLIKES

    WE HAD THIS SAME BOOK FOR OUR CHILDREN MANY YEARS AGO, AND NOW ARE HAVING OUR GRANDCHILDREN ANSWER THE SAME QUESTIONS. THEY LOVE TO COMPARE THEIR ANSWERS TO THOSE OF THEIR PARENTS. WE ALSO WORK ON THIS WITHOUT FILLING OUT THE ANSWERS IN THE BOOK, WE KEEP COMMENTS ON NOTE PAPER, SO AS THEY GROW THEY CAN CHANGE THEIR ANSWERS.
    IT IS SO MUCH FUN TO START DISCUSSIONS AND SEE WHERE THEY GO.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
See All Sort by: Showing 1 – 20 of 44 Customer Reviews
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