By Dr. Seuss (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
ISBN: 978-0-00736-554-8
Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Perfect for everybody…  10/10
Theodore Seuss Geisel was born in Springfield Massachusetts on 2nd March 1094, the son of a wealthy beermaker of German origins. He attended Dartmouth College, where he edited the college magazine, graduating in 1925 despite a few narrow escapes from the college authorities. Geisel liked to party and preferred drawing to his studies. It was apparently how he got his penname: after the Dean banned him from drawing after a particularly raucous binge, the young artist took pains to sign his work only with his middle name…
He studied English Literature at Lincoln College, Oxford in 1927, where he met his first wife Helen. When they returned to America he became a cartoonist and illustrator, doing spot gags, political panels and covers for a variety of publishers. He produced a weekly strip Birdsies and Beasties in prestigious humour magazine Judge and his work also appeared in Life, Vanity Fair, The Saturday Evening Post, Liberty, PM among others. He even briefly produced a newspaper strip ‘Hejji’ (1935) and tried his hand at animation and advertising. During World War II Geisel turned to political cartooning, advocating a strong response to the Fascist threat and in 1943 enlisted as a lead animator and director for the United States Army, winning an award in 1947 for the documentary Design For Death which explored Japanese cultural history.
He published his first poem/cartoon book ‘And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street’ in 1937 but really gradually became immortal after the war when news reports about the relative illiteracy and lack of vocabulary in young children (particularly a damning report in Life, May 1954) led him to create his easy-reading masterpieces ‘The Cat in the Hat’, ‘Green Eggs and Ham’, ‘Gerald McBoing-Boing’, ‘One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish’, ‘Horton Hears a Who!’ and 38 others before his death in 1991.
In 1957 he released the now-legendary ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas!’, a Yuletide evergreen, immortalized in a brilliant Chuck Jones animated short in 1966 and a so-so big budget movie in 2000. Over and above both of these the actual book still towers as a masterpiece of cartoon fiction and one I beg you to read if you already haven’t.
If you’re one of the three westerners who still don’t know the story…
The Grinch is a mean hermit who for no special reason loathes everything about the whole Christmas Season. So one X-Mas Eve he creeps into Who-houses and nicks every trinket that Christmas espouses. No Trees, Tinsel, Presents or Taste Treats are left: the nasty old codger has left Who-ville bereft.
But just at the moment when his triumph is paramount the Grinch sees what Christmas is actually all about. Heart bursting with joy and good feelings re-surging Grinch returns all the treats he was wickedly purging and joins Who-ville’s people in their grand feast – and even shares some of their glorious Roast Beast!
Seriously though; the simple heartwarming tale of the old monster – and his trusty, illogically faithful hound – as they fail to ruin Christmas, his miraculous change of heart and eventual redemption is the perfect examination of what the Season should mean. Moreover it’s written in a captivating manner with bold rhyme and incredibly enthralling artwork that embeds itself within every reader. Wily, wise and wonderful, ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas!’ is absolutely the best kid’s Christmas book ever created and one you simple have to read.
Don’t make me put coal in your socks…
© 1957, 1985 Dr. Seuss Enterprises, L.P. All rights reserved.