Preview
  • Becoming Dr. Seuss

  • Theodor Geisel and the Making of an American Imagination
  • By: Brian Jay Jones
  • Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
  • Length: 18 hrs
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (215 ratings)

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Becoming Dr. Seuss

By: Brian Jay Jones
Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
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Publisher's summary

The definitive, fascinating, all-reaching biography of Dr. Seuss

Dr. Seuss is a classic American icon. Whimsical and wonderful, his work has defined our childhoods and the childhoods of our own children. The silly, simple rhymes are a bottomless well of magic, his illustrations timeless favorites because, quite simply, he makes us laugh. The Grinch, the Cat in the Hat, Horton, and so many more are his troupe of beloved and uniquely Seussian creations.

Theodor Geisel, however, had a second, more radical side. It is there that the allure and fascination of his Dr. Seuss alter ego begins. He had a successful career as an advertising man and then as a political cartoonist, his personal convictions appearing, not always subtly, throughout his books - remember the environmentalist of The Lorax? Geisel was a complicated man on an important mission. He introduced generations to the wonders of reading while teaching young people about empathy and how to treat others well.

Agonizing over word choices and rhymes, touching up drawings sometimes for years, he upheld a rigorous standard of perfection for his work. Geisel took his responsibility as a writer for children seriously, talking down to no reader, no matter how small. And with classics like Green Eggs and Ham and One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, Geisel delighted them while they learned. Suddenly, reading became fun.

Coming right off the heels of George Lucas and best-selling Jim Henson, Brian Jay Jones is quickly developing a reputation as a master biographer of the creative geniuses of our time.

©2019 Brian Jay Jones (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Nonfiction

Becoming Dr. Seuss is more compelling than mere pop hagiography; it is sweeping in scope, unstinting in detail, and willing to criticize or contextualize when needed.” (The New Yorker)

“Finally! The solution to the mystery of where Dr. Seuss earned his Ph.D. Brian Jay Jones also reveals the true identity of Chrysanthemum Pearl; the etymology of the word 'nerd'; the political leanings of Horton and Yertle; and the relationship of Krazy Kat to the one in the hat. It comes as no surprise that Theodore Geisel was a born story-teller; prying truth from fact, Jones pins our favorite fabulist nimbly, colorfully, and splendidly to the page.” (Stacy Schiff, author of The Witches)

“[Geisel's] epic transformation into one of the most beloved and bestselling children’s writers of all time, winner of Oscars and a Pulitzer, is a poignant, affecting tale of a man who mastered the art of concision through imagination and sheer toil yet could never bring such exactitude to his own life.... In Jones’s telling, the Seussian legacy emerges triumphant, elevating the power of children’s literature." (Caroline Fraser, author of Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder)