Visual Biography of Dr. Seuss
During my recent visit to my parents' new home in Florida, I went to the library with my mother to look for some inspiration for this month's column. I made a dash for the biographies, my usual fare, but something on the new non-fiction books display caught my eye: a large book with Dr. Seuss cover illustrations all over it. While it was not at all what I had expected it to be, or what I was looking for when I first picked it up, it turned out to be a great read.
The Seuss, the Whole Seuss, and Nothing But the Seuss: A Visual Biography of Theodor Seuss Geisel is neither bibliography nor biography in its purest form. Charles Cohen, the author, never even met or interviewed Geisel or anyone who knew him. He is a practicing dentist with an insatiable thirst for knowledge. Growing up in Springfield, Massachussetts, where Geisel was born, Cohen was introduced to the world of Seuss at a young age as are most American children. His fascination with the man grew over time, and he felt a need to document the evolution of Geisel's work. The resulting book was released to coincide with what would have been Geisel's 100th birthday and it is a treasure.
While many books have been written about his work, or his life, this book is the first to offer such meticulous insights into young Ted's early work and the evolution of his lovable characters and trademark style. Cohen provides a glimpse into the sketches of a young high school boy, the cartoons of a Dartmouth student and the advertising drawings of a struggling artist. Many of the illustrations in the book have never been seen in print before and come from Cohen's own impressive collection. Cohen's in-depth chronicle of Geisel's early prose and illustration work feels almost like an archeological dig, as he pieces together his own personal finds and shows how they fit together into the body of the popular Dr. Seuss books we all know and love.
A coffee table book with substance, this book turned out to be better than the fluffy biography I expected upon spying the cover in the library. Perhaps the best part is that each chapter can easily be read independently of the others, making it a perfect book for me to read during a busy visit with my parents. I have always loved Dr. Seuss, and Cohen gave me an opportunity to retrace how an ordinary man became the father of such great characters as the Grinch, Horton, Sam, The Cat in The Hat and Bartholomew Cubbins, to name a few. I am sure any adult Seuss fan will find it fascinating.