Happy Birthday to You!

Dr. Seuss (1904–1991), born Theodor Seuss Geisel in Springfield, Massachusetts, was an American children's author, illustrator, and poet who transformed children's literature. After studying at Dartmouth College and Lincoln College, Oxford, he began his career as a cartoonist and advertising illustrator before publishing his first children's book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, in 1937. His inventive rhyme, invented creatures, and subversive humor are defining features of books including The Cat in the Hat (1957), How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1957), and Green Eggs and Ham (1960). He received two Academy Awards, a Peabody Award, and a Pulitzer Prize Special Citation in 1984.