what would be Dr. Seuss' 123rd Birthday Countdown

Dr. Seuss Timeline

About Dr. Seuss

With The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham and How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, Dr. Seuss taught generations to love reading. His books have sold hundreds of millions of copies in dozens of languages.

Twenty-seven rejections and one lucky sidewalk

Twenty-seven publishers turned down Theodor Geisel's first children's book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street. Walking down Madison Avenue with the manuscript, reportedly planning to burn it, he bumped into Dartmouth classmate Mike McClintock, who that very morning had become children's editor at Vanguard Press. McClintock bought the book that day, and Dr. Seuss, a pen name built on his mother's maiden name, was in business.

A fifty-word bet he won and never collected

In 1957, The Cat in the Hat, written from a strict beginner's vocabulary list, made learning to read feel like mischief. Then publisher Bennett Cerf bet Geisel $50 he couldn't write a book using only fifty different words. The result, Green Eggs and Ham, became one of the best-selling children's books ever, and Cerf famously never paid up. Across more than 60 books, Seuss sold over 600 million copies and earned a special 1984 Pulitzer Prize.

The reading party that never ended

Geisel died in 1991, but his mission keeps compounding. The Dr. Seuss Foundation, which he incorporated in 1958, still funds early-literacy programs, awarding nearly $900,000 in grants in 2024. His March 2 birthday anchors NEA's Read Across America, the nation's largest celebration of reading with tens of millions of participants. And in his hometown of Springfield, Massachusetts, The Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum has welcomed families since 2017.

Quick facts

• Born March 2, 1904, in Springfield, Massachusetts, as Theodor Seuss Geisel
• 'Seuss' was his mother's maiden name and his own middle name
• His first book, Mulberry Street, was rejected by 27 publishers before Vanguard bought it
• Green Eggs and Ham came from a $50 bet that he couldn't write a book in 50 words; the bet was never paid
• His more than 60 books have sold over 600 million copies worldwide
• Awarded a special Pulitzer Prize in 1984; Read Across America is held on his birthday

Dr. Seuss classics

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