A Tale of Rejections and Inspiration! by Judy L. Murray

Last week while visiting my five-year-old grandson he informed me that he had to choose his favorite book and dress like one of its characters. The following morning, he boos me awake to see him in his costume. Tall bright red felt hat flopping to one side, yellow feathers encircling his neck and wrists, and black shoes. Under his arm is a bright green book with the words Green Eggs and Ham.

“Who are you?” I ask, in my best Cindy Lou Who voice.

“I’m Sam I Am!” He declares proudly.

We writers work diligently to unveil our latest creative stories and dream of influencing the world a bit with joy, hope, excitement, and wisdom brought by way of our characters. It is difficult to name an author who has all these elements in stories more than the famous American author and illustrator Theodor Geisel. Better known by his pen name, Dr. Seuss, was born March 2nd, 1904 and died in 1991.

We should all take heart with his life story. While at Dartmouth College in the early 1920’s he and a couple of friends were caught drinking during Prohibition. He was forced to resign as the illustrator for the school’s magazine. Geisel began signing his work with ‘Seuss’ to continue working under disguise.

In 1927 his first nationally published cartoon appeared in The Saturday Evening Post. He quickly moved into advertising for companies such as Standard Oil, Ford Motor Company, and NBC Radio. His illustrations used for a collection of children's books topped The New York Times non-fiction list in 1931. Encouraged, Geisel wrote and illustrated an ABC book featuring ‘very strange animals’. It failed to interest publishers.

In 1936, he wrote his first children’s book. (Photo credit: Al Ravenna, World Telegram Staff photographer) It was rejected by as many as forty-three publishers. Dejected, he was walking home to burn the manuscript when a chance encounter led to its publication. After working for the Army in World War II, Geisel returned to writing children’s books such as If I Ran the Zoo, Horton Hears a Who!, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas through Random House and William Collins, Sons.

In 1954, an illiteracy report claimed children were not learning because their books were boring. Houghton Mifflin challenged Geisel to use only 250 key words in his next book. Nine months later, Geisel completed The Cat in the Hat using 236 of the words. He specifically aimed at beginning readers. He gifted us over sixty iconic books for children, although he and his wife never had children of their own. Seven hundred million copies have been sold in over twenty languages. Dr. Seuss passed away in 1991 with dozens of awards and accolades for his contribution to improving literacy around the world. His last book before he died was Oh, the Places You’ll Go!

First-year students at Dartmouth College eat green eggs and ham for breakfast upon arrival. Perhaps I need to start eating green eggs and ham each morning.

Which Dr. Seuss books encouraged you, your children, and your grandchildren to enjoy reading? Do his forty-three rejections inspire you to keep writing?