“Today  you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you.” Seuss once said. Theodor Seuss Geisel is the most popular children's book writer and illustrator today. People all around the world pride Seuss in his joy and ability to tap into a child's-eye view of the universe.  The key to his admiration from his readers lead back to his childhood full of stories that lead to his accomplishments that have impacted society since day one.

The history of Seuss’s life is an extraordinary example of how he came to be the writer he was. “Theodor Seuss Geisel was born on March 2, 1904, in Springfield, Massachusetts.” Growing up his mother, Henrietta Seuss Geisel often serenes him and his siblings to sleep by chanting rhymes remembered from her youth. Seuss later credited his mother for the ability and desire to create rhymes. When he was fourteen he came in tenth place for selling the most war bonds in Springfield and was going to be given a medal by former president Theodore Roosevelt. The president, however, was only given nine medals, and when he reached Seuss, Roosevelt gruffly bellowed, “What’s this little boy doing here?” Honor quickly turned to humiliation as the flustered scoutmaster whisked Seuss off the stage. The event embarrassed Seuss so much  that he dreaded public appearances for the rest of his life.

“Suess left Springfield as a teenager to attend Dartmouth College, where he became editor-in-chief of the Jack-O-Lantern, Dartmouth's humor magazine.” “He began using his pen name when he was caught with gin in his dorm room and was asked to step down as editor of Dartmouth’s magazine. To continue working on the magazine, he used Seuss instead.”  After he graduated from Dartmouth he went on to Oxford University in England to please his father, who wanted him to be a college professor.  “While at Oxford, he met his future wife, Helen Palmer, whom he married in 1927. That same year, he dropped out of Oxford, and the couple moved back to the United States.”  Soon after Seuss dropped out of Oxford and married Helen they found out she had cancer and also was unable to bear children. In October 1967, She was not only suffering from cancer, but also the emotional pain caused by an affair Seuss had with his longtime friend Audrey Stone Diamond. Depression took over her and she committed suicide. Geisel married Audrey the following year. Seuss did not have any biological children, but he was the stepfather of Audrey two daughter. His unique background led to the many accomplishments he attained.

Suess was a very achieved man. Throughout his career, cartoonist and writer Dr. Seuss published over 60 books.” ”His books had been translated into more than 15 languages. Over 200 million copies have found their way into homes around the world.”  “After returning to the United States, Seuss began to pursue a career as a cartoonist. The Saturday Evening Post and other publications published some of his early pieces, but the bulk of Seuss's activity during his early career was devoted to creating advertising campaigns for Standard Oil, which he did for more than 15 years.” As World War II approached, Seuss's focus shifted, and he began contributing weekly political cartoons to PM magazine, a liberal publication.”  Around this time, Viking Press offered Seuss a contract to illustrate a children's collection called Boners. The book sold poorly, but it gave him a break into children's literature.” “Seuss had  his first "big break" into children's literature. Getting the first book that he both wrote and illustrated, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, published, however, required a great degree of persistence - it was rejected 27 times before being published by Vanguard Press.” His success from this book led to many other of our favorite Dr. Seuss books being created. Another big hit for Suess was the Cat in the Hat. This whole book was made on a bet to Seuss from Houghton Mifflin to write and illustrate a children's primer using only 225 "new-reader" vocabulary words. Another popular Dr. Seuss book How the Grinch Stole Christmas was adapted into a movie with the help of Chuck Jones in 1966. All of Seuss Accomplishments have had a huge impact on society.
   

The blow on society from Seuss has changed the way we look at books. "He encourages children and adults to look at the world in different ways, whether this means upside-down, from the top of a tree or from inside a tiny speck.” "His loose style, curvy lines and use of whitespace engage the reader's imagination. They have enthralled not only children, but also their parents for more than 75 years. “The popularity of his books encouraged publishers to be far more interested in and willing to seek illustrators who were considered to be ‘cutting edge”. It's the combination of playfulness and lyricism that makes Dr. Seuss' works stand the test of time. In fact, the only children's vocabulary book around then was Dick and Jane and many kids would refuse to read them because they were boring. So the creation of Dr. Seuss’s goofy stories that got children attention with colorful illustrations had a big impact on learning. The moral lessons in Dr. Seuss stories also contribute to the learning experiences for older children. “Vanderbilt children’s literature expert Ann Neely says Dr. Seuss holds a special place in the hearts of many because he wrote with the joy, concern and passion a child carries”. “Most important, his books have introduced millions of children to the joys of reading and the magic of wordplay”. Dr. Seuss impacts on society have been an inspiration to people of all ages.
Overall Dr. Seuss’s childhood has impacted his accomplishments which hugely affects all his readers. Like Dr. Seuss once said, “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”