Seuss-isms (Dr. Seuss Book Classics Series)

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Overview

The simple but sage words of Dr. Seuss have helped many a child (and grownup) along the complicated road of life. For those who need reminders, here is a collection of some of the good doctor's wisest and wittiest sayings, on subjects as varied as "Equality and Justice" and "Facing Up to Adversity" to "The Art of Eating" and "The First Nerd"! A perfect gift for all occasions, ideal for sharing among generations--now with a "gift tag" on the jacket flap for consumers to ...
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More About This Book

Overview

The simple but sage words of Dr. Seuss have helped many a child (and grownup) along the complicated road of life. For those who need reminders, here is a collection of some of the good doctor's wisest and wittiest sayings, on subjects as varied as "Equality and Justice" and "Facing Up to Adversity" to "The Art of Eating" and "The First Nerd"! A perfect gift for all occasions, ideal for sharing among generations--now with a "gift tag" on the jacket flap for consumers to personalize!

Finding sense within the nonsense of Dr. Seuss's (1904-1991) books, the small-format Seuss-isms: Wise and Witty Prescriptions for Living from the Good Doctor collects the words of the author cum sage. The quotations appear under such categories as "On the art of eating" (from Green Eggs and Ham) and "On equality and justice" (from Yertle the Turtle).

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Editorial Reviews

Children's Literature - Cynthia Levinson
With a whimsical drawing of the Cat in the Hat's hat and child-like lettering on the cover, this small-format book appears to appeal to young readers. It is published by the Children's Books division of Random House, after all, and the contents consist of illustrations from books by Dr. Seuss, accompanied by one or two stanza-long quotations from various of his books. In her introduction, however, Audrey Geisel, president and CEO of Dr. Seuss Enterprises, reveals the book's purpose: to offer "advice for living." Despite appearances, this didactic collection of Seuss snippets, packaged as a "Gift Edition," is not child-friendly. The material is arranged according to such sub-heads as "On adversity" and "On aging," topics that are not intrinsically interesting to children. "On life's mysteries" contains the advice "'Cause you never can tell/What goes on down below!/This pool might be bigger/Than you or I know!" Nostalgic adults might find this "prescription" amusing. Most children, however, would be baffled or insulted to receive this volume as a gift. Reviewer: Cynthia Levinson
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780679883562
  • Publisher: Random House Children's Books
  • Publication date: 3/28/1997
  • Series: Life Favors(TM) Series
  • Edition description: Gift
  • Pages: 32
  • Sales rank: 50,553
  • Age range: 3 months - 18 years
  • Product dimensions: 4.49 (w) x 5.83 (h) x 0.33 (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
( 5 )
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Sort by: Showing all of 5 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted December 4, 2001

    Witty and Refreshing

    I'm giving this book as a gift to 10 middle managers - while I'm sure initially they will think it childish, once they read the book they will understand why they received it. Seuss gives us all a simplified view of life and applying the basics to home and work. And yes... I am a mom.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted April 5, 2013

    more from this reviewer

    I Also Recommend:

    Oh, the Places You'll Go! (B&N Exclusive Edition)
    You're Only Old Once!: A Book for Obsolete Children

    Great gift and offers sound advice. I was surprised at how smal

    Great gift and offers sound advice. I was surprised at how small the book was, I was thinking it was bigger like the typical Dr. Seuss. One of my favorites along with "Oh The Place You Will Go".

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted July 25, 2009

    Dr. Seuss at His Finest

    By this, I mean his best words of wisdom for any situation. The good doctor knows the right words to help make sense of any situation, from overcoming adversity, to respecting others, to the true meaning of the holidays. The words are from his many works, his best lines from the best of his stories, so pick it up today.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 15, 2001

    A Great Philosophy

    This is a little book with a big heart full of the doctor's important words and messages quoted from his 44 books. Dr. Suess' philosophy gives positive results guaranteed with no side effects with the exception of occasional excessive bright smiles. I also love and recommend you read the little book of wisdom by Taro Gold called 'Open Your Mind, Open Your Life.'

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted January 12, 2009

    No text was provided for this review.

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