Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, published over 60 children's books over the course of his long career. Though most were published under his well-known pseudonym, Dr. Seuss, he also authored a certain amount of books as Theo. LeSieg and one as Rosetta Stone.
As one of the most popular children's authors of all time, Geisel's books have topped many bestseller lists, sold over 222 million copies, and been translated into more than 15 languages.[1] In 2000, when Publishers Weekly compiled their list of the best-selling children's books of all time, 16 of the top 100 hardcover books were written by Geisel, including Green Eggs and Ham, at number 4, The Cat in the Hat, at number 9, and One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, at number 13.[2] In the years following his death in 1991, several additional books based on his sketches and notes were published, including Hooray for Diffendoofer Day! and Daisy-Head Mayzie. Although they were all published under the name Dr. Seuss, only My Many Colored Days, originally written in 1973, was entirely by Geisel.
Dr. Seuss books
The bulk of Theodor Seuss Geisel's books were published under the name of Dr. Seuss. The exceptions include Great Day for Up!, My Book about ME, Gerald McBoing Boing, The Cat in the Hat Beginner Book Dictionary (credited to the Cat himself), 13 books credited to Theo. LeSeig, Because a Little Bug Went Ka-Choo! and I Am Not Going to Get Up Today!, though all were in fact illustrated and written by Geisel. Note only first edition information is given.
The rights to the books and related media (films, TV shows, stage productions, exhibitions, digital media, licensed merchandise) and other strategic partnerships are owned by Dr. Seuss Enterprises.
This book is a collection of humorous anecdotes and illustrations representing some of the earliest work credited to Dr. Seuss. The 1941 printing of The Pocket Book of Boners compiles four separate books that were issued in 1931. The first book was illustrated by Dr. Seuss.
Marco watches the sights and sounds of people and vehicles traveling along Mulberry Street and dreams up an elaborate story to tell to his father at the end of his walk. The first book written, created and originated by Dr. Seuss. Made into a Madcap ModelOscar-nominated short in 1944 in the Paramount Pictures series.
In the kingdom of Didd, King Derwin is riding through a street past Bartholomew Cubbins, a poor boy in the market. Bartholomew removes his hat according to the laws, but another hat mysteriously appears; when he attempts to remove this one too, another one appears again, and this continues, even as he removes more and more hats, each growing in extravagance and beauty. This is the first book for which Dr. Seuss did not write any words in rhyme. Made into a Madcap ModelOscar-nominated short in 1943 in the Paramount Pictures series.
The story of King Bertram of Binn, who dedicates himself to safeguarding his kingdom, which has a precarious existence. It is surrounded by water, which is held back from flooding the land by a ring of dike trees, which are in turn subject to attack from flocks of Nizzards. To protect the kingdom, a legion of Patrol Cats is organized to keep the Nizzards at bay, and King Bertram sees to their care personally.
An elephant named Horton is convinced by an irresponsible bird named Mayzie to sit on her egg while she takes a short break, which proves to last for months. Made into a Merrie Melodies cartoon in 1942.
A Caldecott Honor Book. A boy named Marco is ridiculed for fishing in a small, polluted pool, and tries to justify himself by imagining the fish he might catch. It is one of the few books by Geisel to use paintings as the medium for its illustrations, rather than his common use of pen and ink.
Thidwick, a moose who lives in a herd of "about sixty or more", accepts a bug living on his antlers for free, who tells a spider of the free housing, and both accept a "Zinn-a-zu" bird, and this leads to a whole host of freeloaders taking up residence.
A Caldecott Honor Book. Gerald McGrew visits a zoo and finds that the animals are "not good enough" and describes how he would run the zoo. He would let all of the current animals free and find new, more bizarre and exotic ones.
Horton the Elephant of the Jungle of Nool hears a speck of dust talking to him. The speck of dust is actually a tiny planet, home to a city called Who-ville, inhabited by microscopic-sized inhabitants known as Whos and led by a character known as the Mayor. The sequel to Horton Hatches the Egg. Adapted into a 1970 television special and a 2008 feature length CGI film.
The young narrator, not content with the confines of the ordinary alphabet, invents additional letters beyond Z, with a fantastic creature corresponding to each new letter.
Behind Mr. Sneelock's ramshackle store, there is an empty lot. Little Morris McGurk is convinced that if he could just clear out the rusty cans, the dead tree, and the old cars, nothing would prevent him from using the lot for the amazing, world-beating, Circus McGurkus. The sequel to If I Ran the Zoo.
The Cat in the Hat brings his companions, Thing One and Thing Two, to a household of two young children one rainy day. Chaos ensues while the children wonder how they are going to explain what happens to their mother. The first Beginner Books entry written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss and the book that started the line, Geisel wrote it using only 236 words in response to a concern that the primers popular at the time, such as those featuring the characters Dick and Jane, were too dull to effectively teach children to read. Decades later, Geisel would call this the book he was most proud of, as it helped end the use of those primers. Adapted into a 1971 television special and a 2003 feature-length film.
The Grinch, a bitter, cave-dwelling creature, tries to steal everything related to Christmas by impersonating Santa Claus. Eventually, he realizes he has a heart for Christmas after all. Adapted into a 1966 television special, a 2000 feature-length film, a 2018 feature length CGI film, and an annual musical. The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic shut down the theater and the production created a free radio drama show.[3]
Yertle the Turtle: Unsatisfied with the stone that serves as his throne, the king turtle commands the other turtles to stack themselves beneath him so that he can see further and expand his kingdom.
Gertrude McFuzz: The "girl-bird" Gertrude McFuzz has one small, plain tail feather and envies Lolla-Lee-Lou, who has two fancy tail feathers.
The Big Brag: A rabbit and a bear both boast that they are the "best of the beasts", because of the range of their hearing and smelling abilities, respectively.
The Cat in the Hat returns, bringing along Little Cat A nested inside his hat. Little Cat A doffs his hat to reveal Little Cat B, who in turn reveals Little Cat C, and so on down to the microscopic Little Cat Z. Together they try to get rid of a pink ring that has spread from the bathtub to the dress, to the wall, into some shoes, and finally out onto the snow where they work to get rid of it.
A simple rhyming book for learner readers with a freewheeling plot about a boy and a girl and the many amazing creatures they have for friends and as pets.
Sam-I-Am tries to offer an unnamed man (who is also the narrator; later named Guy-Am-I in the 2019 animated series) a plate of green eggs and ham. The man refuses to eat the food, insisting that he would not like it until the end. Adapted into a 1973 television special and a 2019 animated series, both by Warner Bros. Animation.
The Sneetches: Because the Star-Bellied Sneetches are being prejudicial to the Plain-Bellied Sneetches, a "fix-it-up chappie" named Sylvester McMonkey McBean appears and offers the Sneetches without stars a chance to have them by going through his Star-On Machine. Adapted into a 1973 television special.
The Zax: A North-Going Zax and a South-Going Zax meet face to face in the Prairie of Prax. They refuse to move out of the way for one another and end up staying there. Teaches the value of compromise. Adapted into a 1973 television special.
Too Many Daves: A mother, Mrs. McCave, who named all 23 of her sons Dave and has trouble telling them apart.
What Was I Scared Of?: The tale of a character who repeatedly meets up with an empty pair of pale-green pants and has to learn to accept them.
A small bug yawn spreads contagiously and though various creatures, including two Foona Lagoona Baboona, the Collapsable Frink, the Chippendale Mupp, two Offt, and the Curious Krandles.
An alphabet book which features many strange creatures from Aunt Annie's Alligator to the Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz. In the 2008 American animated film Horton Hears a Who!, Yaks (including Katie (voiced by Joey King[4]), which resembled the Yawning Yellow Yak) appear as residents of The Jungle of Nool.[5]
Hop on Pop provides simple rhymes to help beginner reading, such as a character named Pat who sits on a hat, a cat, a bat and must not sit on that (which is a cactus). Shows a variety of characters and teaches sentence composition.
This dictionary book was written and illustrated by P. D. Eastman (and Peter Eastman in the additional in 2007). This is the very first Beginner Books special written by Dr. Seuss (credited as the Cat himself). The signature credit that said, "Dr. Seuss", was in the original and seen on the first page.
Introduces many different creatures with different feet. The first Bright and Early Books entry written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss and the book that started the line.
The title story concerns a boy who brags that he can fight 30 tigers and win. However, he makes excuse after excuse, finally disqualifying all the tigers until he must fight no tigers at all. The illustrations are notable for their use of gouache and brush strokes rather than the usual pen and ink. Other stories include King Looie Katz, another warning against hierarchical society advocating self-reliance, and The Glunk That Got Thunk about the power of run-away imagination.
A coloring book featuring rhyming instructions to help children complete various pictures, culminating in a challenge to the child to draw his or her own "Big Something". The full title of the book is I Can Draw It Myself by Me, Myself.
The book shows the sounds "Mr. Brown" can make, such as a cow's "moo", a frying pan's "sizzle", and a hippo's "grum". It was written so children would be able to learn about onomatopoeia and the sounds that they hear every day.
The Lorax chronicles the plight of the environment and the Lorax (a mossy, bossy man-like creature resembling an emperor tamarin), who speaks for the trees against the greedy Once-ler. Adapted into a 1972 television special, a 2012 feature length CGI film, and a 2018 musical.
A little boy talks about the strange creatures that live in his house, such as the Yeps on the steps, the Nooth Grush on his toothbrush, the Yottle in the bottle and the Jertain in the curtain. The last Bright and Early Books entry illustrated by Dr. Seuss.
The Cat in the Hat asks many, sometimes ridiculous, questions of the reader. This is the only Beginner Books reissue (B-75) written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss.
A collection of 25 tongue-twisters such as "Oh my brothers! Oh my sisters! These are Terrible Tongue Twisters!" The last Beginner Books entry illustrated by Dr. Seuss.
A boy is approached by numerous strange creatures with enormous gloved hats on their heads. Each "hunch" points out a different possible course of action, with some even contradicting themselves.
The conflict between the Yooks and the Zooks over which side of bread to spread butter on leads to an arms race, each competing to make bigger and nastier weapons to outdo the other, which results in the threat of mutual assured destruction. Adapted into a 1989 television special.
The book is about a warmhearted schoolgirl named Mayzie who one day suddenly sprouts a bright yellow daisy from her head. This makes her famous and she starts to miss her normal life. The book was originally not illustrated by Geisel but rather by an uncredited Joe Mathieu. The book was re-published with Geisel's illustrations in 2016.
A rhyming story, written in 1973, which describes each day in a particular color which is in turn associated with a specific emotion. Book paintings by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher.
The first two Dr. Seuss Bright and Early Books and the final four Dr. Seuss Beginner Books are in one volume. Final Dr. Seuss book not illustrated by Geisel.
A story meant to be read to babies in utero, bringing a large number of Dr. Seuss characters to print, showing the baby all the creatures and adventures they will get to meet and experience once they are born. It is considered a baby-fied version of Oh! The Places You'll Go![7]
Original release was a miniature version.
It was released in a regular-sized hardcover format on July 28, 2015, to coincide with the release of What Pet Should I Get?, the newest Seuss book that was released at the same time.[6][7] Adapted by Tish Rabe from the works of Dr. Seuss.
The story surrounds a school that is well liked by its students, notably because of its many eccentric teachers. Expanded and completed by Jack Prelutsky and illustrated by Lane Smith.
This book collects seven stories published in Redbook from 1948 to 1959: "The Bippolo Seed"; "The Rabbit, The Bear, and the Zinniga-Zanniga"; "Gustav, the Goldfish"; "Tadd and Todd"; "Steak for Supper"; "The Strange Shirt Spot"; and "The Great Henry McBride". Book introduction by Charles D. Cohen.
Four more stories originally published in Redbook from 1950 to 1955: "Horton and the Kwuggerbug" (January 1951); "Marco Comes Late" (September 1950); "How Officer Pat Saved the Whole Town" (October 1950); and "The Hoobub and the Grinch" (May 1955). Book introduction by Charles D. Cohen.
A story written sometime between 1958 and 1962, featuring the same brother and sister from One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish. Book manuscript and illustrations were rediscovered by Audrey Geisel in 2013. This Dr. Seuss book was later re-released in 2019 as a Beginner Book edition.
Geisel also authored several books under the pen name Theo. LeSieg (Geisel spelled backward) and one book under the name Rosetta Stone. These books were written but not illustrated by Geisel.
Three animals, a lion, a dog, and a tiger, who consistently pile apples on their heads for fun. This is the first Dr. Seuss book credited as one of his different names.
This super-simple, super-sturdy board book edition of The Eye Book--Dr. Seuss's hilarious ode to eyes--gives little ones a whole new appreciation for all the wonderful things to be seen.
This sturdy, abridged board-book adaptation of Dr. Seuss's The Many Mice of Mr. Brice shows twenty-six mice in action, introducing the youngest readers to fun words and word play, from dancing and singing, to trombone playing and whisker growing.
Poses questions for pondering: "Would you rather be a dog or be a cat?", "Would you rather live in igloos or in tents?", "Would you rather be a mermaid with a tail instead of feet?".
Hooper Humperdink...? Not Him!
1976 2006
Charles E. Martin Scott Nash
A certain kid (the narrator) invites all his friends – whose names begin with all 26 letters of the alphabet - to a party at his house, except for Hooper Humperdink, but changes his mind as soon as the others are already having fun.
Please Try to Remember the First of Octember!
1977
Art Cummings
If someone wants a green kangaroo, a skateboard TV or a Jeep-a-Fly kite -- they must wait till the first of Octember. This delightful exercise in wish-fulfilment introduces children to the months of the year and the idea that they may not always get what they want.
Maybe You Should Fly a Jet! Maybe You Should Be a Vet!
1980 2020
Michael J. Smollin Kelly Kennedy
Exposes the reader to many different types of careers.
Shows people and animals that have teeth, and ones that do not. Explains that they only get two sets of teeth, and briefly how to care for them. This is the final Dr. Seuss book credited as one of his different names, and the final Bright and Early Book written by Dr. Seuss.
A bug sneezes, which sets off a series of larger and larger consequences, in the end nearly sending a whole town into chaos. Geisel wrote this book under the pen name Rosetta Stone.
Theatrical
While Geisel was most famous for his literary works, he helped write several propaganda films, several cartoon shorts, and a feature-length film. Many of his literary works have also been adapted for the television and as feature-length films.
This Dr. Seuss collection was a series released by Random House. They are a video version of a "book on tape". None of these productions are animated. This section does not contain duplicate entries. While Horton Hatches The Egg, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Horton Hears a Who, The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, and Because A Little Bug Went Ka-Choo! were adapted into full animation, they were also adapted into a non-animated production for this Dr. Seuss collection.
The controversy dated back several years. The National Education Association's "Read Across America Day", moved away from Seuss's books and Seuss-themed activities in 2017, instead emphasizing works by and about people of color.[30]Philip Nel of Kansas State University published Was the Cat in the Hat Black?: The Hidden Racism of Children's Literature, and the Need for Diverse Books in 2014, criticizing racial stereotypes in that and other Seuss books.[31]
The books' removal caused a surge in sales for other works by Seuss that impacted Amazon's charts in the United States. It was reported by CTV that nine of the top ten best sellers were all books by Seuss, excluding the books that were removed.[37] As the collectors value of the withdrawn books rose substantially, eBay also delisted the books.[38]
University of California San Diego's register of the materials in their Dr Seuss collection, detailing many of his works not published in (separate) books. Register of Dr. Seuss Collection - MSS 230
