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The Dr. Seuss category in the Yahoo! Directory is bursting at the seams with informative sites devoted to the brilliant and much-beloved children's author. After perusing a few, we quickly learned that Seuss was the maiden name of Geisel's mother, and his middle name as well. Dr. Seuss was born Theodor Seuss Geisel March 2, 1904, in Springfield, Massachusetts, to Theodor Robert and Henrietta Seuss Geisel. He began signing the name Seuss to his work at Dartmouth. There he was editor-in-chief of Jack-O-Lantern, the school's humor magazine, before he was relieved of his duties after throwing
a party. Geisel continued to write for the magazine, getting his work past school officials by signing his submissions with his middle name. In 1937, Geisel's first book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, finally made it onto bookshelves after being rejected by nearly 30 publishers. With its publication, Geisel started using his full pen name of Dr. Seuss, adding the "Dr." title to his middle name because his father, a brewmaster, had always wanted Theodor to become a
doctor. At the time, he intended to save his real name for work of a more serious nature. Later, Geisel would also write under the pen names of Theo LeSieg (Geisel spelled backwards) and Rosetta Stone. Sadly, the man of many names died in September of 1991, but he left behind 47 books in 18 languages, coloring the lives of millions of children and adults alike with his special brand of nonsensical fun.
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