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 over a dozen 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, and Dr. Seuss's ABC.[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. Except for Great Day for Up! and My Book about ME, these books were illustrated and written by Geisel.
Title | Synopsis | Notes | Original publication year |
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The Pocket Book of Boners | 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. | 1931 | |
And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street | Marco watches the sight 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. | 1937 | |
The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins | 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. | 1938 | |
The King's Stilts | 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. | 1939 | |
The Seven Lady Godivas | The seven Lady Godivas each learn a moral while taking care of a horse. | 1939 | |
Horton Hatches the Egg | 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. | 1940 |
McElligot's Pool | 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. | Caldecott Honor Book | 1947 |
Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose | Thidwick, a moose who lives in a herd "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. | 1948 | |
Bartholomew and the Oobleck | Bartholomew must rescue his kingdom from a sticky substance called oobleck. A sequel to The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. | Caldecott Honor Book | 1949 |
If I Ran the Zoo | 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. | Caldecott Honor Book | 1950 |
Scrambled Eggs Super! | A young boy named Peter T. Hooper spins a tale of an incredible meal he created by harvesting the eggs of fantastically exotic birds. | 1953 | |
Horton Hears a Who! | Horton the Elephant of the Jungle of Nool hears a small 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. | Also a feature length CGI film. | 1954 |
On Beyond Zebra! | 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. | 1955 | |
If I Ran the Circus | Behind Mr. Sneelock's ramshackle store, there's 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. | 1956 | |
How the Grinch Stole Christmas! | The Grinch, a bitter, cave-dwelling, cat-like creature tries to steal everything related to Christmas by impersonating Santa Claus. Eventually he realizes he has a heart for Christmas after all. | Also a feature-length film | 1957 |
The Cat in the Hat | 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. | Also a feature-length film | 1957 |
The Cat in the Hat Comes Back | The Cat in the Hat returns and while he leaves Thing One and Thing Two at home, he does bring along Little Cat A nested inside his hat. Little Cat A doffs his hat to reveal Little Cat B, who in turn reveals 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. | 1958 | |
Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories | Consists of three stories:
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1958 | |
Happy Birthday to You! | Deals with a fantastic land, called Katroo, where the Birthday Bird throws everyone an amazing party on their special day. | 1959 | |
One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish | A simple rhyming book for learner readers, that has a freewheeling plot about a boy and a girl, and the many amazing creatures they have for friends and pets. | 1960 | |
Green Eggs and Ham | Sam consistently badgers an unnamed character to try green eggs and ham. The unnamed character refuses to taste the dish, insisting that he would not like it. | 1960 | |
The Sneetches and Other Stories | Consists of four stories:
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1961 | |
Dr. Seuss's Sleep Book | A small bug yawn spreads contagiously and though various creatures, including the Foona Lagoona Baboona, the Collapsable Frink, the Chippendale Mupp, The Offt, and the Krandles. | 1962 | |
Dr. Seuss's ABC | An alphabet book which features many strange creatures from the Aunt Annie's Alligator to the Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz. | 1963 | |
Hop on Pop | Hop on Pop provides simple rhymes to help beginner reading, such as a character named Pat who sits on a hat, a cat and a bat but must not sit on that (which is a cactus). Shows a variety of characters and teaches sentence composition. | 1963 | |
Fox in Socks | Mr. Fox converses with his partner Mr. Knox almost entirely in rhyming tongue-twisters, which begins to get on Knox's nerves. | 1965 | |
I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew | A tale of a young person who discovers the "troubles" of life and wishes to escape them. | 1965 | |
The Cat in the Hat Song Book | A book exploring a wide variety of Dr. Seuss songs. | Piano Score and Guitar Chords by Eugene Poddany | 1967 |
The Foot Book | Introduces many different creatures with different feet. | 1968 | |
I Can Lick 30 Tigers Today! and Other Stories | 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. Others 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. | 1969 | |
My Book about ME | This book is deliberately incomplete as there are blanks on every page where the child is meant to fill in answers specific to him or her. | Illustrated by Roy McKie, this is the first book that Dr. Seuss didn't illustrate. | 1969 |
I Can Draw It Myself | 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. | 1970 | |
Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?: Dr. Seuss's Book of Wonderful Noises! | 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. | 1970 | |
The Lorax | 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. | Also a feature length CGI film | 1971 |
Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now! | Marvin K. Mooney is asked to leave in many ways. | 1972 | |
Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are? | Discusses an amusing litany of terrible predicaments which could befall a person, with the repeated admonishment that "you're really quite lucky". | 1973 | |
The Shape of Me and Other Stuff | Explores the adventures of two kids and their journey to learn about all the shapes and sizes that make up our world. | 1973 | |
There's a Wocket in My Pocket! | A little boy talks about what strange creatures 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 book for Bright and Early Books illustrated by Dr. Seuss. | 1974 |
Great Day for Up! | Every new day starts a new adventure. | Illustrated by Quentin Blake, this is the last book for Bright and Early Books written by Dr. Seuss, and this is the second book that he didn't illustrate. | 1974 |
Oh | About the many amazing 'thinks' one can think and the endless possibilities and dreams that imagination can create. | 1975 | |
The Cat's Quizzer | The Cat in the Hat asks many, sometimes ridiculous, questions of the reader. | This is the last book for Beginner Books in the reissue by Dr. Seuss. | 1976 |
I Can Read with My Eyes Shut! | The Cat in the Hat shows a Young Cat the fun he can get out of reading. Also shows that reading is a useful tool to acquire knowledge. | 1978 | |
Oh Say Can You Say? | A collection of 25 tongue-twisters such as "Oh my brothers! Oh my sisters! These are Terrible Tongue Twisters!" | The last book for Beginner Books illustrated by Dr. Seuss. | 1979 |
Hunches in Bunches | 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. | 1982 | |
The Butter Battle Book | 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. | 1984 | |
You're Only Old Once! | An old man journeys through a clinic and sees its inefficiency. | 1986 | |
I Am NOT Going to Get Up Today! | A lazy boy decides to stay in bed despite media coverage and the arrival of the U.S. Marines. | Illustrated by James Stevenson, this is the last book for Beginner Books written by Dr. Seuss, and this is the third and last book that he didn't illustrate. | 1987 |
The Tough Coughs as He Ploughs the Dough | A collection of Dr. Seuss' early writings and cartoons, edited by Richard Marschall. | 1987 | |
Oh | The last book published before Dr. Seuss' death, about life and its challenges. | 1990 |
Posthumous[]
Geisel also wrote several books that were posthumously published under his most recognizable pen name, Dr. Seuss.
Title | Synopsis | Notes | Original publication year |
---|---|---|---|
Daisy-Head Mayzie | The book is about a 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. | Not illustrated by Geisel | 1995 |
My Many Colored Days | A rhyming story, written in 1973, which describes each day in a particular color which is in turn associated with a specific emotion. | Paintings by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher | 1996 |
Oh | 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!" [3]
Original release was a mini version. It is scheduled to be re-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 scheduled for release.[3][4] |
Adapted by Tish Rabe from the works of Dr. Seuss | 1997 [4] |
Hooray for Diffendoofer Day! | 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 | 1998 |
The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories | 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." | Introduction by Charles D. Cohen | 2011 |
Horton and the Kwuggerbug and More Lost Stories | 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). | Introduction by Charles D. Cohen | 2014 |
What Pet Should I Get? | A story believed to have been written between 1958 and 1962, featuring the same brother and sister from One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish. | The manuscript and illustrations were found by Geisel's widow in 2013. | July 2015 (scheduled)[5] |
Theo. LeSieg and Rosetta Stone[]
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.
Title | Synopsis | Illustrator | Original publication year |
---|---|---|---|
Ten Apples Up on Top! | Three animals, a lion, a dog, and a tiger, who consistently pile apples on their heads for fun. | Roy McKie | 1961 |
I Wish That I Had Duck Feet | A boy wishes that he could have many different animal and mechanical body parts, finding fantastic uses for each. | B Tobey | 1965 |
Come over to My House | The illustrations of this book portray the various styles of homes that kids from around the world live in. | Richard Erdoes (illustrated to Michael K. Frith) |
1966 |
The Eye Book | Roy McKie Joe Mathieu |
1968 1999 | |
I Can Write! A Book by Me, Myself | Roy McKie | 1971 | |
In a People House | A mouse shows a bird all the amazing things one can find in the everyday home. | Roy McKie | 1972 |
Wacky Wednesday | Shows the adventures of a kid and how he learns to cope with an abnormal day. | George Booth | 1974 |
The Many Mice of Mr. Brice a.k.a. The Pop-Up Mice of Mr. Brice |
Roy McKie | 1974 | |
Would You Rather Be a Bullfrog? | Roy McKie | 1975 | |
Hooper Humperdink...? Not Him! | 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. | Charles E. Martin Scott Nash |
1976 2006 |
Please Try to Remember the First of Octember! | Art Cummings | 1977 | |
Maybe You Should Fly a Jet! Maybe You Should Be a Vet! | Exposes the reader to many different types of careers. | Michael J. Smollin | 1980 |
The Tooth Book | Shows people and animals that have teeth, and ones that do not. Explains that you only get two sets of teeth, and briefly how to care for them. | Roy McKie Joe Mathieu |
1981 2000 |
Because a Little Bug Went Ka-Choo!! | 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. | Michael K. Frith | 1975 |
Theatrical[]
While Geisel was most famous for his literary works, he helped write several propaganda films, cartoon shorts, and feature-length film. Many of his literary works have also been adapted for the television and as feature-length films.
# | Title | Release date |
---|---|---|
1 | Horton Hatches the Egg | April 11, 1942 |
2 | The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins | April 30, 1943 |
3 | And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street | July 28, 1944 |
4 | Your Job in Germany | 1945 |
5 | Our Job in Japan | 1945 |
6 | Private Snafu | 1943 |
7 | Design for Death[6] | 1947 |
8 | Gerald McBoing-Boing | November 2, 1950 |
9 | The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T | July 1, 1953 |
Feature film adaptations[]
# | Title | Release date | RT | Gross |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | How the Grinch Stole Christmas | November 17, 2000 | 53% | $345.1 million[7] |
2 | The Cat in the Hat | November 21, 2003 | 10% | $134 million[8] |
3 | Horton Hears a Who! | March 14, 2008 | 79% | $297.1 million[9] |
4 | The Lorax | March 2, 2012 | 54% | $348.8 million[10] |
Musicals[]
- Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical (1994)
- Seussical (2000)
Television[]
Specials[]
# | Title | Release date |
---|---|---|
1 | How the Grinch Stole Christmas! | December 18, 1966 |
2 | Horton Hears a Who! | March 19, 1970 |
3 | The Cat in the Hat | March 10, 1971 |
4 | The Lorax | February 14, 1972 |
5 | Dr. Seuss on the Loose | October 15, 1973 |
6 | The Hoober-Bloob Highway | February 19, 1975 |
7 | Halloween Is Grinch Night | October 29, 1977 |
8 | Pontoffel Pock | May 2, 1980 |
9 | The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat | May 20, 1982 |
10 | The Butter Battle Book | November 13, 1989 |
11 | In Search of Dr. Seuss | November 6, 1994 |
12 | Daisy-Head Mayzie | January 31, 1995 |
Series[]
# | Title | Premiere date | End date | Network |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | The Gerald McBoing-Boing Show | 1956 | 1957 | CBS |
2 | The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss | October 13, 1996 | December 28, 1997 | Nickelodeon |
3 | Gerald McBoing-Boing | August 22, 2005 | November 28, 2007 | Teletoon Cartoon Network |
4 | The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That! | September 26, 2010 | present | PBS |
Direct-to-video[]
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, 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.
Dr. Seuss Beginner Book Video[]
- Dr. Seuss's ABC plus I Can Read with My Eyes Shut! and Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?
- Hop on Pop plus Oh Say Can You Say? and Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now!
- One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish plus Oh, the Thinks You Can Think! and The Foot Book
- The Cat in the Hat Comes Back plus Fox in Socks and There's a Wocket in My Pocket
- I Am NOT Going to Get Up Today! plus The Shape of Me and Other Stuff, Great Day for Up! and In a People House
- The Cat in the Hat plus Maybe You Should Fly a Jet! Maybe You Should Be a Vet!
- Green Eggs and Ham plus The Tooth Book and Ten Apples Up on Top!
Dr. Seuss Video Classics[]
- Circus Classics/Horton Hatches the Egg narrated by Billy Crystal plus If I Ran the Circus
- Treasury Classics/Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories narrated by John Lithgow
- Holiday Classics/How the Grinch Stole Christmas! narrated by Walter Matthau plus If I Ran the Zoo
- Big Animal Classics/Horton Hears a Who! narrated by Dustin Hoffman plus Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose
- Lucky Classics/Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are? narrated by John Cleese plus Scrambled Eggs Super!
- Bedtime Classics/Dr. Seuss's Sleep Book narrated by Madeline Kahn plus Hunches in Bunches
- Story Classics/The Sneetches and Other Stories narrated by John Lithgow
Other[]
- Notes Alive! Dr. Seuss's My Many Colored Days (1998)
- Read with Me DVD! Green Eggs and Ham (2005)
Video games[]
- Dr. Seuss's ABC (1995)
- Green Eggs and Ham (1996)
- The Cat in the Hat (1997)
- Dr. Seuss Toddler (1999)
- Dr. Seuss Preschool (1999)
- Dr. Seuss Kindergarten (1999)
- The Grinch (2000)
- The Cat in the Hat (2003)
- Green Eggs and Ham (2005)
- The Grinch (2006) - Nintendo DS
References[]
- ↑ Seussville: Biography. Dr. Seuss Enterprises, L.P.. Retrieved on 2008-08-11.
- ↑ Debbie Hochman Turvey (2001-12-17). All-Time Bestselling Children's Books. Publishers Weekly. Retrieved on 2008-04-23.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Dr. Seuss' 'Oh, The Places You'll Go!' turns 25". CNN. January 22, 2015. http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/22/living/feat-seuss-oh-the-places-youll-go-25/.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Oh, Baby, the Places You'll Go!". Amazon. February 20, 2015. http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Places-Youll-Mini-Edition/dp/0679885722?sa-no-redirect=1.
- ↑ "Dr. Seuss returns with newly discovered book". USA Today. February 18, 2015. http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2015/02/18/dr-seuss-returns-with-another-new-book/23607039/.
- ↑ Morgan, Judith; Morgan, Neil (1995). Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel. Random House. pp. 119–120. ISBN 0-679-41686-2.
- ↑ How the Grinch Stole Christmas - Box Office Mojo
- ↑ The Cat in the Hat - Box Office Mojo
- ↑ Horton Hears a Who! - Box Office Mojo
- ↑ Dr. Seuss' The Lorax - Box Office Mojo
External links[]
- 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. [1]
- A (possibly incomplete) list of illustrated short stories Seuss published in Redbook Magazine in the 1950s. [2]
- Works by or about Dr. Seuss in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
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Category:Books by Dr. Seuss
Category:Bibliographies by writer
Category:Bibliographies of American writers
Category:Children's literature bibliographies
Category:Poetry bibliographies