When World War 1 broke out, there was anti German sentiment as Germany was on the central powers side. This resulted in a young Ted Geisel being bullied for being of German descent and as a result, was the target of coal throwing and being called Kaiser (German emperor).
Thankfully, the bullying was over by the time he was nearly an adult. Little did his bullies know that he was going to change the world of children's literature. After writing and illustrating children's books as well as advertisements (like an insecticide called Flit), Ted Geisel who we now know as Dr Seuss (a pen name he came up by combing his dad's hopes of his son getting a PhD and his mother's maiden name) read an article that stated America's children were struggling to learn to read. The books that were in schools were dull and boring and Dr Seuss knew that he needed brighten up the bookshelves of classrooms. The
result?
The Cat in the Hat, which was published in March 1957.
It involved Seuss' iconic rhyming capabilities telling the story in the point of view of a boy who is visited alongside his sister by a tall bicolour cat with a hat on his head in the colours red and white. The Cat in the Hat was praised and Dr Seuss would write more books after the Cat in the Hat like Green Eggs and Ham (which was written on a dare), How the Grinch Stole Christmas and The Lorax.
The last book Dr Seuss wrote, illustrated and published before his death was Oh the Places You'll Go which got its name from a phrase Seuss and his friends in college would jokingly say when they shook hands "Oh the places you'll go! The people you'll meet!"