Theodor Seuss Geisel wasn't actually a doctor—sorry to break it to you. Though he began to study for a Ph.D. at Oxford University, he never completed it and instead returned to the U.S. to pursue his career as an illustrator.

Good call, Teddy.

Dr. Seuss was a double threat: he wrote and illustrated his own books. He's famous for his made-up words, his catchy rhymes, and his distinctively loopy illustration style. You know the one.

Here's a great quote from the Doctor himself: "Children's literature as I write it and as I see it is… satirizing the mores and habits of the world" (source). That's right, Seuss was spongy. He absorbed all the serious issues going on in the world and expressed them through his work.

Add to that the impact Seuss had on children's literacy, and you have yourself one major player in children's literature.

The Cat in the Hat (1957)

Here's how it goes down: a couple of kids are left home alone one day, and they get an unexpected visitor—a cat accompanied by two companions, Thing One and Thing Two. As a result of the Cat's shenanigans, everything gets wrecked, but the cat magically cleans it all up…just before Mom gets home.

Dr. Seuss wrote The Cat in the Hat as a way to help children read, and those rhyming lines sure did the trick.

Oh, The Places You'll Go! (1990)

The last book that Dr. Seuss published before his death, Oh The Places You'll Go! tells the story of a child going out and exploring the world. Sounds like prime-cut children's lit to us.

Chew on This

Dr. Seuss is famous for repetition—in the form of repeated sounds in rhyming lines. Have a look at these quotations from The Cat in the Hat

Dr. Seuss' Oh, the Places You'll Go! focuses on action. It's about going out and exploring the world.