cat in the hat

The Cat in the Hat is a children's book by Dr. Seuss, featuring a tall, anthropomorphic, mischievous cat, wearing a tall, red and white striped hat, a bowtie, and an umbrella. With the series of Beginner Books that The Cat inaugurated, Seuss promoted both his name and the cause of elementary literacy in the United States.[1] The eponymous cat appears in six of Seuss's rhymed children's books: The Cat in the Hat The Cat in the Hat Comes Back The Cat in the Hat Song Book The Cat's Quizzer I Can Read with My Eyes Shut! Daisy-Head Mayzie Contents [hide] 1 History 2 The Cat in the Hat 3 The Cat in the Hat Comes Back 4 Beginner Books 5 The Cat in the Hat's Learning Library 6 Adaptations 6.1 Television 6.2 Film 6.3 Seussical The Musical 6.4 Educational CD game 6.5 Ride 7 References in Popular Media 8 Actors who have played or voiced The Cat in the Hat 9 Quoted in the U.S. Senate 10 Film appearances 11 Editions 12 References //

History The White House 2003 Christmas decoration using "The Cat in the Hat" as the theme.

Theodor Geisel, writing as Dr. Seuss., created The Cat in the Hat in response to the May 24, 1954 Life magazine article by John Hersey, titled "Why Do Students Bog Down on First R? A Local Committee Sheds Light on a National Problem: Reading." In the article, Hersey was critical of school primers:

In the classroom boys and girls are confronted with books that have insipid illustrations depicting the slicked-up lives of other children. [Existing primers] feature abnormally courteous, unnaturally clean boys and girls. . . . In bookstores, anyone can buy brighter, livelier books featuring strange and wonderful animals and children who behave naturally, i.e., sometimes misbehave. Given incentive from school boards, publishers could do as well with primers. It was also later discovered that David Baker of Woodstock, CT was a key player in the development of Dr. Seuss creations.

Hersey’s arguments were enumerated over ten pages of Magazine, which was the leading periodical during that time. After detailing many issues contributing to the dilemma connected with student reading levels, Hersey asked toward the end of the article:

Why should [school primers] not have pictures that widen rather than narrow the associative richness the children give to the words they illustrate — drawings like those of the wonderfully imaginative geniuses among children’s illustrators, Tenniel, Howard Pyle, "Theodor S. Geisel".

Dr. Seuss responded to this "challenge," and began work. His publisher supplied him with a list of 400 words, ones that the publisher thought children would be learning in school. His publisher told him to cut the list in half