Dubbed the "Wizard of Whimsy" by a writer for Time, Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known under his pseudonym "Dr. Seuss," was "probably the best-loved and certainly the best-selling children's book writer of all time," wrote Robert Wilson of the New York Times Book Review. With his death in 1991, Seuss left behind a lasting legacy of books--over fifty of them published in twenty languages selling over 200 million copies--that have both entertained and informed generations of young readers. Seuss's zany nonsense books spawned a memorable bestiary of characters, from Horton the Elephant and Thidwick the Moose to the cat in the hat, Yertle the Turtle, the Lorax, and the Grinch. Such books as The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham have, in fact, made their way into the culture, assuming shibboleth status in children's literature. As a contributor for St. James Guide to Children's Writers noted, those two titles "represent the beginning of a relatively new genre: publications designed not as textbooks intended to increase skill, but as a form of pleasurable literature for beginners." Speaking to Herbert Kupferberg of Parade, Seuss once claimed: "Old men on crutches tell me, 'I've been brought up on your books.'"
Critics have remarked that Seuss's rhythmic verse rivals that of nineteenth-century author Lewis Carroll, and his freestyle drawing the loony sketches of Victorian limericist and author Edward Lear.
