THE ANNOTATED CAT: Under the Hats of Seuss and His Cats
by Philip Nel
Random House
ISBN-10: 0375833692
ISBN-13: 9780375833694
Ages 10-up
192 pages

As enjoyable as the Seuss books are to read and listen to, they don't begin to reflect the grueling hours of hard work the author spent in their creation. Who would guess that the fun, wild drawings and the simple little rhymes actually took years in the process?

My stuff is full of sweat. To get four lines I'll write 200. I'm not saying those final four lines are good, either, but they're as good as I can make them. It's what you leave out that makes a book good.

The job of writing this new kind of book had been set up as a sort of challenge by his publisher. He was to use only a limited number of words, which had to fall within a specified criteria (easy for first graders to read). Ultimately, THE CAT IN THE HAT would have 1,664 words with only 290 specific ones being used multiple times. Hours and hours were spent working out the words, the story and the delightful pictures.
 
The simple rhymes of these books have been thrilling youngsters and adults everywhere. Moving away from the traditional Dick and Jane, Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss to the world) not only helped change the way children learn to read, but also created some of the most beloved characters of all time. His spontaneous-looking drawings are carefully thought-out and painstakingly rendered, making them leap from the pages of his books. The illustrations thrust a life and energy into his work that leave readers smiling. Geisel credits his background in advertising for helping him in his successful career as both an illustrator and a writer of children's books

Giesel's imagination seemed without limits, and his fanciful creatures have become lifelike through the years. These characters have been marketed into everything from amusement park rides to movies. The popularity of the Cat especially, as a wild, rebellious character, makes children wonder because of the Cat's naughty antics. With a nod to Rube Goldberg, the Cat is given a "tidying up machine" to clean up the mess he has made. When asked about this machine by a group of six-year-old schoolchildren, Geisel replied without hesitation:

…This is a steam contraption. There's a dipolator in here that runs the whole thing --- which ties on to the cantabulous, which is down near the end here. The cantabulous and the dipolator sometimes don't throing --- which gets us into a terrible situation…

Philip Nel's wonderful book on Seuss is filled with these kinds of great stories, along with copies of letters, interviews, sketches, notes and hundreds of personal trivia. Endnotes and references provide greater details and expand even more on the many bits and pieces of fascinating information. Public and school libraries should have THE ANNOTATED CAT on their shelves. For personal collections it is not only a fun read, but also makes a most attractive coffee table book. Seuss fans are going to love this entire package.

   --- Reviewed by Sally M. Tibbetts (stibbetts@maine207west.k12.il.us)

Click here now to buy this book from Amazon.com.