''The Cat in the Hat'' is a 1957

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

written and illustrated by the American author Theodor Geisel, using the pen name

Dr. Seuss Theodor Seuss Geisel (;"Seuss"
'' anthropomorphic cat who wears a red and white-striped top hat and a red bow tie. The Cat shows up at the house of Sally and her brother one rainy day when their mother is away. Despite the repeated objections of the children's fish, the Cat shows the children a few of his tricks in an attempt to entertain them. In the process, he and his companions, Thing One and Thing Two, wreck the house. As the children and the fish become more alarmed, the Cat produces a machine that he uses to clean everything up and disappears just before the children's mother comes home. Geisel created the book in response to a debate in the United States about literacy in

early childhood Early childhood is a stage in human development following infancy and preceding middle childhood. It generally includes toddlerhood and some time afterward. Play age is an unspecific designation approximately within the scope of early childhood. ...

and the ineffectiveness of traditional primers such as those featuring

Dick and Jane ''Dick and Jane'' are the two main characters created by Zerna Sharp for a series of basal readers written by William S. Gray to teach children to read. The characters first appeared in the ''Elson-Gray Readers'' in 1930 and continued in a sub ...

. Geisel was asked to write a more entertaining primer by William Spaulding, whom he had met during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

and who was then director of the education division at

Houghton Mifflin The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

. However, because Geisel was already under contract with

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

, the two publishers agreed to a deal: Houghton Mifflin published the education edition, which was sold to schools, and Random House published the trade edition, which was sold in bookstores. Geisel gave varying accounts of how he created ''The Cat in the Hat'', but in the version he told most often, he was so frustrated with the word list from which he could choose words to write his story that he decided to scan the list and create a story based on the first two rhyming words he found. The words he found were ''cat'' and ''hat''. The book was met with immediate critical and commercial success. Reviewers praised it as an exciting alternative to traditional primers. Three years after its debut, the book had already sold over a million copies, and in 2001, ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' listed the book at number nine on its list of best-selling children's books of all time. The book's success led to the creation of

Beginner Books Beginner Books is the Random House imprint for young children ages 3–9, co-founded by Phyllis Cerf with Ted Geisel, more often known as Dr. Seuss, and his wife Helen Palmer Geisel. Their first book was Dr. Seuss's '' The Cat in the Hat'' (1 ...

, a publishing house centered on producing similar books for young children learning to read. In 1983, Geisel said, "It is the book I'm proudest of because it had something to do with the death of the Dick and Jane primers." Since its publication, ''The Cat in the Hat'' has become one of Dr. Seuss' most famous books, with the Cat himself becoming his signature creation. The book was adapted into a 1971 animated television special and a 2003 live-action film, and the Cat has been included in many Dr. Seuss media.

Plot

The story begins as an unnamed boy who is the narrator of the book sits alone with his sister Sally in their house on a cold and rainy day, staring wistfully out the window. Then they hear a loud bump which is quickly followed by the arrival of the Cat in the Hat, a tall anthropomorphic

cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

in a red and white-striped

top hat A top hat (also called a high hat, a cylinder hat, or, informally, a topper) is a tall, flat-crowned hat for men traditionally associated with formal wear in Western dress codes, meaning white tie, morning dress, or frock coat. Traditional ...

and a red

bow tie The bow tie is a type of necktie. A modern bow tie is tied using a common shoelace knot, which is also called the bow knot for that reason. It consists of a ribbon of fabric tied around the collar of a shirt in a symmetrical manner so that t ...

, who proposes to entertain the children with some tricks that he knows. The children's pet fish refuses, insisting that the Cat should leave. The Cat then responds by balancing the fish on the tip of his umbrella. The game quickly becomes increasingly trickier, as the Cat balances himself on a ball and tries to balance many household items on his limbs until he falls on his head, dropping everything he was holding. The fish admonishes him again, but the Cat in the Hat just proposes another game. The Cat brings in a big red box from outside, from which he releases two identical characters, or "Things" as he refers them to, with blue hair and red suits called Thing One and Thing Two. The Things cause more trouble, such as flying kites in the house, knocking pictures off the wall and picking up the children's mother's new polka-dotted dress. All this comes to an end when the fish spots the children's mother out the window. In response, the boy catches the Things in a net and the Cat, apparently ashamed, stores them back in the big red box. He takes it out the front door as the fish and the children survey the mess he has made. But the Cat soon returns, riding a machine that picks everything up and cleans the house, delighting the fish and the children. The Cat then leaves just before their mother arrives, and the fish and the children are back where they started at the beginning of the story. As she steps in, the mother asks the children what they did while she was out, but the children are hesitant and do not answer. The story ends with the question, "What would ''you'' do if your mother asked ''you''?"

Background

Theodor Geisel, writing as Dr. Seuss, created ''The Cat in the Hat'' partly in response to the May 24, 1954, ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...

'' magazine article by

John Hersey John Richard Hersey (June 17, 1914 – March 24, 1993) was an American writer and journalist. He is considered one of the earliest practitioners of the so-called New Journalism, in which storytelling techniques of fiction are adapted to n ...

titled "Why Do Students Bog Down on First R? A Local Committee Sheds Light on a National Problem: Reading". In the article, Hersey was critical of school primers like those featuring

In the classroom boys and girls are confronted with books that have insipid illustrations depicting the slicked-up lives of other children... All feature abnormally courteous, unnaturally clean boys and girls.... In bookstores anyone can buy brighter, livelier books featuring strange and wonderful animals and children who behave naturally, i.e., sometimes misbehave... Given incentive from school boards, publishers could do as well with primers.

After detailing many issues contributing to the dilemma connected with student reading levels, Hersey asked toward the end of the article:

Why should chool primersnot have pictures that widen rather than narrow the associative richness the children give to the words they illustrate—drawings like those of the wonderfully imaginative geniuses among children's illustrators, Tenniel,
Howard Pyle Howard Pyle (March 5, 1853 – November 9, 1911) was an American illustrator and author, primarily of books for young people. He was a native of Wilmington, Delaware, and he spent the last year of his life in Florence, Italy. In 1894, he began ...
, "Dr. Seuss",
Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...
?

This article caught the attention of William Spaulding, who had met Geisel during the war and who was then the director of Houghton Mifflin's education division.Morgan 1995, pp. 153-154 Spaulding had also read the best-selling 1955 book ''

Why Johnny Can't Read ''Why Johnny Can't Read—And What You Can Do About It'' is a 1955 book-length exposé on American reading education by Rudolf Flesch. It was an immediate bestseller for 37 weeks and became an educational cause célèbre. In this book, the aut ...

'' by

Rudolf Flesch Rudolf Franz Flesch (8 May 1911 – 5 October 1986) was an Austrian-born naturalized American writer (noted for his book '' Why Johnny Can't Read''), and also a readability expert and writing consultant who was a vigorous proponent of plain Eng ...

. Flesch, like Hersey, criticized primers as boring but also criticized them for teaching reading through

word recognition Word recognition, according to Literacy Information and Communication System (LINCS) is "the ability of a reader to recognize written words correctly and virtually effortlessly". It is sometimes referred to as "isolated word recognition" because i ...

rather than

phonics Phonics is a method for teaching people how to read and write an alphabetic language (such as English, Arabic or Russian). It is done by demonstrating the relationship between the sounds of the spoken language (phonemes), and the letters or g ...

.Menand 2002, p. 2 In 1955, Spaulding invited Geisel to dinner in Boston where he proposed that Geisel create a book "for six- and seven-year-olds who had already mastered the basic mechanics of reading". He reportedly challenged, "Write me a story that first-graders can't put down!" At the back of ''Why Johnny Can't Read'', Flesch had included 72 lists of words that young children should be able to read, and Spaulding provided Geisel with a similar list. Geisel later told biographers Judith and Neil Morgan that Spaulding had supplied him with a list of 348 words that every six-year-old should know and insisted that the book's vocabulary be limited to 225 words. However, according to

Philip Nel Philip W. Nel (born March 29, 1969) is an American scholar of children's literature and University Distinguished Professor of English at Kansas State University. He is best known for his work on Dr. Seuss and ''Harry Potter'', which has led to hi ...

, Geisel gave varying numbers in interviews from 1964 to 1969. He variously claimed that he could use between 200 and 250 words from a list of between 300 and 400; the finished book contains 236 different words.Nel 2007, pp. 24-26

Creation

Geisel gave varying accounts of how he conceived of ''The Cat in the Hat''. According to the story Geisel told most often, he was so frustrated with the word list that William Spaulding had given him that he finally decided to scan the list and create a story out of the first two words he found that rhymed. The words he found were ''cat'' and ''hat''. Near the end of his life, Geisel told his biographers, Judith and Neil Morgan, that he conceived the beginnings of the story while he was with Spaulding, in an elevator in the Houghton Mifflin offices in Boston.Morgan 1995, p. 153 It was an old, shuddering elevator and was operated by a "small, stooped woman wearing 'a leather half-glove and a secret smile'". Anita Silvey, recounting a similar story, described the woman as "a very elegant, very petite African-American woman named Annie Williams". Geisel told Silvey that, when he sketched the Cat in the Hat, he thought of Williams and gave the character Williams' white gloves and "sly, even foxy smile". Everest North Face toward Base Camp Tibet Luca Galuzzi 2006

Everest North Face toward Base Camp Tibet Luca Galuzzi 2006

Geisel gave two conflicting, partly fictionalized accounts of the book's creation in two articles, "How Orlo Got His Book" in ''

The New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

'' and "My Hassle with the First Grade Language" in the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

'', both published on November 17, 1957. In "My Hassle with the First Grade Language", he wrote about his proposal to a "distinguished schoolbook publisher" to write a book for young children about "scaling the peaks of Everest at 60 degrees below". The publisher was intrigued but informed him that, because of the word list, "you can't use the word ''scaling''. You can't use the word ''peaks''. You can't use ''Everest''. You can't use ''60''. You can't use ''degrees''. You can't...""My Hassle With the First Grade Language" 1957, p. 171 Geisel gave a similar account to Robert Cahn for an article in the July 6, 1957, edition of ''

The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely ...

''. In "My Hassle With the First Grade Language", he also told a story of the "three excruciatingly painful weeks" in which he worked on a story about a King Cat and a Queen Cat. However, "queen" was not on the word list, nor did his first grade nephew, Norval, recognize it. So Geisel returned to the work, but could then think only of words that started with the letter "q", which did not appear in any word on the list. He then had a similar fascination with the letter "z", which also did not appear in any word on the list. When he did finally finish the book and showed it to his nephew, Norval had already graduated from the first grade and was learning calculus. Philip Nel notes, in his dissection of the article, that Norval was Geisel's invention. Geisel's niece, Peggy Owens, did have a son, but he was only a one-year-old when the article was published. In "How Orlo Got His Book", he described Orlo, a fictional, archetypal young child who was turned off of reading by the poor selection of simple reading material."How Orlo Got His Book" 1957, p. 167 To save Orlo the frustration, Geisel decided to write a book for children like Orlo but found the task "not dissimilar to... being lost with a witch in a tunnel of love". He tried to write a story called "The Queen Zebra" but found that both words did not appear on the list. In fact, like Geisel wrote in "My Hassle with the First Grade Language", the letters "q" and "z" did not appear on the list at all. He then tried to write a story about a bird, without using the word ''bird'' as it did not appear on the list. He decided to call it a "wing thing" instead, but struggled as he discovered that it "couldn't have ''legs'' or a ''beak'' or a ''tail''. Neither a ''left'' foot or a ''right'' foot.""How Orlo Got His Book" 1957, p. 169 On his approach to writing ''The Cat in the Hat'' he wrote, "The method I used is the same method you use when you sit down to make apple stroodle icwithout stroodles." Geisel variously stated that the book took between nine and 18 months to create. Donald Pease notes that he worked on it primarily alone, unlike with previous books, which had been more collaborative efforts between Geisel and his wife,

Helen Helen may refer to: People * Helen of Troy, in Greek mythology, the most beautiful woman in the world * Helen (actress) (born 1938), Indian actress * Helen (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) Places * Helen, ...

. This marked a general trend in his work and life. As Robert L. Bernstein later said of that period, "The more I saw of him, the more he liked being in that room and creating all by himself."Pease 2010, p. 114 Pease points to Helen's recovery from

Guillain–Barré syndrome Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS) is a rapid-onset muscle weakness caused by the immune system damaging the peripheral nervous system. Typically, both sides of the body are involved, and the initial symptoms are changes in sensation or pain oft ...

, which she was diagnosed with in 1954, as the marker for this change.

Publication history

Geisel agreed to write ''The Cat in the Hat'' at the request of William Spaulding of Houghton Mifflin; however, because Geisel was under contract with Random House, the head of Random House,

Bennett Cerf Bennett Alfred Cerf (May 25, 1898 – August 27, 1971) was an American writer, publisher, and co-founder of the American publishing firm Random House. Cerf was also known for his own compilations of jokes and puns, for regular personal appearanc ...

, made a deal with Houghton Mifflin. Random House retained the rights to trade sales, which encompassed copies of the book sold at book stores, while Houghton Mifflin retained the education rights, which encompassed copies sold to schools. The Houghton Mifflin edition was released in January or February 1957, and the Random House edition was released on March 1. The two editions featured different covers but were otherwise identical. The first edition can be identified by the "200/200" mark in the top right corner of the front dust jacket flap, signifying the $2.00 selling price. The price was reduced to $1.95 on later editions. According to Judith and Neil Morgan, the book sold well immediately. The trade edition initially sold an average of 12,000 copies a month, a figure which rose rapidly.

Bullock's Bullock's was a chain of full-line department stores from 1907 through 1995, headquartered in Los Angeles, growing to operate across California, Arizona and Nevada. Bullock's also operated as many as seven more upscale Bullocks Wilshire specialty ...

department store in Los Angeles, California, sold out of its first, 100-copy order of the book in a day and quickly reordered 250 more. The Morgans attribute these sales numbers to "playground word-of-mouth", asserting that children heard about the book from their friends and nagged their parents to buy it for them. However, Houghton Mifflin's school edition did not sell as well. As Geisel noted in Jonathan Cott's 1983 profile of him, "Houghton Mifflin... had trouble selling it to the schools; there were a lot of Dick and Jane devotees, and my book was considered too fresh and irreverent. But Bennett Cerf at Random House had asked for trade rights, and it just took off in the bookstores."Cott 1983, p. 115 Geisel told the Morgans, "Parents understood better than school people the necessity for this kind of reader." After three years in print, ''The Cat in the Hat'' had sold nearly one million copies. By then, the book had been translated into French, Chinese, Swedish, and Braille. In 2001, ''

'' placed it at number nine on its list of the best-selling children's books of all time. As of 2007, more than 10 million copies of ''The Cat in the Hat'' have been printed, and it has been translated into more than 12 different languages, including

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, under the title ''Cattus Petasatus''. In 2007, on the occasion of the book's fiftieth anniversary, Random House released ''The Annotated Cat: Under the Hats of Seuss and His Cats'', which includes both ''The Cat in the Hat'' and its sequel, with annotations and an introduction by Philip Nel.

Reception

The book was published to immediate critical acclaim. Some reviewers praised the book as an exciting way to learn to read, particularly compared to the primers that it supplanted. Ellen Lewis Buell, in her review for ''

'', noted the book's heavy use of one-syllable words and lively illustrations. She wrote, "Beginning readers and parents who have been helping them through the dreary activities of Dick and Jane and other primer characters are due for a happy surprise." Helen Adams Masten of the '' Saturday Review'' called the book Geisel's ''tour de force'' and wrote, "Parents and teachers will bless Mr. Geisel for this amusing reader with its ridiculous and lively drawings, for their children are going to have the exciting experience of learning that they ''can'' read after all." Polly Goodwin of the ''

Chicago Sunday Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television are ...

'' predicted that ''The Cat in the Hat'' would cause seven- and eight-year-olds to "look with distinct distaste on the drab adventures of standard primer characters". Both Helen E. Walker of '' Library Journal'' and Emily Maxwell of ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' felt that the book would appeal to older children as well as to its target audience of first- and second-graders.Nel 2007, pp. 9–10 The reviewer for ''The Bookmark'' concurred, writing, "Recommended enthusiastically as a picture book as well as a reader". In contrast, Heloise P. Mailloux wrote in ''

The Horn Book Magazine ''The Horn Book Magazine'', founded in Boston in 1924, is the oldest bimonthly magazine dedicated to reviewing children's literature. It began as a "suggestive purchase list" prepared by Bertha Mahony Miller and Elinor Whitney Field, proprietres ...

'', "This is a fine book for remedial purposes, but self-conscious children often refuse material if it seems meant for younger children." She felt that the book's limited vocabulary kept it from reaching "the absurd excellence of early Seuss books". Based on a 2007 online poll, the

National Education Association The National Education Association (NEA) is the largest labor union in the United States. It represents public school teachers and other support personnel, faculty and staffers at colleges and universities, retired educators, and college stud ...

listed ''The Cat in the Hat'' as one of its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children". In 2012, it was ranked number 36 among the "Top 100 Picture Books" in a survey published by ''

School Library Journal ''School Library Journal'' (''SLJ'') is an American monthly magazine containing reviews and other articles for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, with ...

'' – the third of five Dr. Seuss books on the list. It was awarded the Early Readers BILBY Award in 2004 and 2012. The book's fiftieth anniversary in 2007 prompted a reevaluation of the book from some critics. Yvonne Coppard, reviewing the fiftieth anniversary edition in ''Carousel'' magazine, wondered if the popularity of the Cat and his "delicious naughty behavior" will endure another fifty years. Coppard wrote, "The innocent ignorance of bygone days has given way to an all-embracing, almost paranoid awareness of child protection issues. And here we have the mysterious stranger who comes in, uninvited, while your mother is out."

Analysis

Philip Nel places the book's title character in the tradition of con artists in American art, including the title characters from

Meredith Willson Robert Reiniger Meredith Willson (May 18, 1902 – June 15, 1984) was an American flutist, composer, conductor, musical arranger, bandleader, playwright, and writer. He is perhaps best known for writing the book, music, and lyrics for the 19 ...

's ''

The Music Man ''The Music Man'' is a musical with book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson, based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. The plot concerns con man Harold Hill, who poses as a boys' band organizer and leader and sells band instruments ...

'' and

L. Frank Baum Lyman Frank Baum (; May 15, 1856 – May 6, 1919) was an American author best known for his children's books, particularly ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' and its sequels. He wrote 14 novels in the ''Oz'' series, plus 41 other novels (not includ ...

's ''

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' is a children's novel written by author L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. It is the first novel in the Oz series of books. A Kansas farm girl named Dorothy ends up in the magical Land of Oz afte ...

''.Nel 2004, p. 118-119 Nel also contends that Geisel identified with the Cat, pointing to a self portrait of Geisel in which he appears as the Cat, which was published alongside a profile about him in ''The Saturday Evening Post'' on July 6, 1957. Michael K. Frith, who worked as Geisel's editor, concurs, arguing that "The Cat in the Hat and Ted Geisel were inseparable and the same. I think there's no question about it. This is someone who delighted in the chaos of life, who delighted in the seeming insanity of the world around him." Ruth MacDonald asserts that the Cat's primary goal in the book is to create fun for the children. The Cat calls it "fun that is funny", which MacDonald distinguishes from the ordinary, serious fun that parents subject their children to. In an article titled "Was the Cat in the Hat Black?", Philip Nel draws connections between the Cat and stereotyped depictions of African-Americans, including minstrel shows, Geisel's own minstrel-inspired cartoons from early in his career, and the use of the term "cat" to refer to jazz musicians. According to Nel, "Even as [Geisel] wrote books designed to challenge prejudice, he never fully shed the cultural assumptions he grew up with, and was likely unaware of the ways in which his visual imagination replicated the racial ideologies he consciously sought to reject."

Geisel once called the fish "my version of Cotton Mather", the Puritan moralist who advised the prosecutors during the Salem witch trials.Nel 2007, 40 Betty Mensch and Alan Freeman support this view, writing, "Drawing on old Christian symbolism (the fish was an ancient sign of Christianity) Dr. Seuss portrays the fish as a kind of ever-nagging superego, the embodiment of utterly conventionalized morality." Philip Nel notes that other critics have also compared the fish to the Id, ego and super-ego#Super-ego, superego. Anna Quindlen called the Cat "pure id" and marked the children, as mediators between the Cat and the fish, as the ego. Mensch and Freeman, however, argue that the Cat shows elements of both id and ego. In her analysis of the fish, MacDonald asserts that it represents the voice of the children's absent mother.MacDonald 1986, pp. 114–115 Its conflict with the Cat, not only over the Cat's uninvited presence but also their inherent predator-prey relationship, provides the tension of the story. She points out that on the last page, while the children are hesitant to tell their mother about what happened in her absence, the fish gives a knowing look to the readers to assure them "that something did go on but that silence is the better part of valor in this case". Alison Lurie agrees, writing, "there is a strong suggestion that they might not tell her."Lurie 1992, p. 70 She argues that, in the Cat's destruction of the house, "the kids—and not only those in the story, but those who read it—have vicariously given full rein to their destructive impulses without guilt or consequences." For a 1983 article, Geisel told Jonathan Cott, "''The Cat in the Hat'' is a revolt against authority, but it's ameliorated by the fact that the Cat cleans up everything at the end. It's revolutionary in that it goes as far as Alexander Kerensky, Kerensky and then stops. It doesn't go quite as far as Vladimir Lenin, Lenin." Donald Pease notes that ''The Cat in the Hat'' shares some structural similarities with other Dr. Seuss books. Like earlier books, ''The Cat in the Hat'' starts with "a child's feeling of discontent with his mundane circumstances" which is soon enhanced by make-believe.Pease 2010, pp. 103–105 The book starts in a factual, realistic world, which crosses over into the world of make-believe with the loud bump that heralds the arrival of the Cat. However, this is the first Dr. Seuss book in which the fantasy characters, i.e. the Cat and his companions, are not products of the children's imagination. It also differs from previous books in that Sally and her brother actively participate in the fantasy world; they also have a new opinion of the Cat and his world by the story's end.

Legacy

Ruth MacDonald asserts, "''The Cat in the Hat'' is the book that made Dr. Seuss famous. Without ''The Cat'', Seuss would have remained a minor light in the history of children's literature." Donald Pease concurs, writing, "''The Cat in the Hat'' is the classic in the archive of Dr. Seuss stories for which it serves as a cornerstone and a linchpin. Before writing it Geisel was better known for the FLIT#"Quick, Henry, the Flit!", 'Quick, Henry, the Flit!' ad campaign than for his nine children's books."Pease 2010, pp. 111–112 The publication and popularity of the book thrust Geisel into the center of the United States literacy debate, what Pease called "the most important academic controversy" of the Cold War era. Academic Louis Menand contends that "''The Cat in the Hat'' transformed the nature of primary education and the nature of children's books. It not only stood for the idea that reading ought to be taught by phonics; it also stood for the idea that language skills—and many other subjects—ought to be taught through illustrated storybooks, rather than primers and textbooks." In 1983, Geisel told Jonathan Cott, "It is the book I'm proudest of because it had something to do with the death of the ''Dick and Jane'' primers." WhiteHouseTheCatintheHat2003

The book led directly to the creation of

, a publishing house centered on producing books like ''The Cat in the Hat'' for beginning readers. According to Judith and Neil Morgan, when the book caught the attention of Phyllis Cerf, the wife of Geisel's publisher,

, she arranged for a meeting with Geisel, where the two agreed to create Beginner Books.Morgan 1995, pp. 156–157 Geisel became the president and editor, and the Cat in the Hat served as their mascot. Geisel's wife, Helen, was made third partner. Random House served as distributor until 1960, when Random House purchased Beginner Books. Geisel wrote multiple books for the series, including ''The Cat in the Hat Comes Back'' (1958), ''Green Eggs and Ham'' (1960), ''Hop on Pop'' (1963), and ''Fox in Socks'' (1965). He initially used word lists of limited vocabularies to create these books, as he had with ''The Cat in the Hat'', but moved away from the lists as he came to believe "that a child could learn any amount of words if fed them slowly and if the books were amply illustrated". Other authors also contributed notable books to the series, including ''A Fly Went By'' (1958), ''Sam and the Firefly'' (1958), ''Go, Dog. Go!'' (1961), and ''The Big Honey Hunt'' (1962). The book, or elements of it, has been mentioned multiple times in United States politics. The image of the Cat balancing many objects on his body while in turn balancing himself on a ball has been included in political cartoons and articles. Political caricaturists have portrayed both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush in this way. In 2004, Mad (magazine), ''MAD'' magazine published "The Strange Similarities Between the Bush Administration and the World of Dr. Seuss", an article which matched quotes from White House officials to excerpts taken from Dr. Seuss books, and in which George W. Bush's State of the Union promises were contrasted with the Cat vowing (in part), "I can hold up the cup and the milk and the cake! I can hold up these books! And the fish on a rake!" In 2007, during the 110th United States Congress, 110th Congress, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid compared the impasse over a bill to reform immigration with the mess created by the Cat. He read lines of the book from the Senate floor. He then carried forward his analogy hoping the impasse would be straightened out for "If you go back and read Dr. Seuss, the cat manages to clean up the mess." In 1999, the United States Postal Service issued a stamp featuring the Cat in the Hat. ''The Cat in the Hat''s popularity also led to increased popularity and exposure for Geisel's previous children's books. For example, 1940's ''Horton Hatches the Egg'' had sold 5,801 copies in its opening year and 1,645 the following year. In 1958, the year after the publication of ''The Cat in the Hat'', 27,643 copies of ''Horton'' were sold, and by 1960 the book had sold a total of over 200,000 copies. In 2020, ''The Cat in the Hat'' placed second on the New York Public Library's list of "Top 10 Checkouts of All Time".

Adaptations

''The Cat in the Hat'' has been adapted for various media, including theater, television, and film.

Animated TV special

''The Cat in the Hat (TV special), The Cat in the Hat'' is an animated musical TV special which premiered in 1971 and starred Allan Sherman as the Cat. In 1973, Sherman reprised the role for Dr. Seuss on the Loose, where the Cat host three stories, and it was his last project before his death that same year.

Television

The Cat is the host of ''The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss'', an American puppet series that premiered on October 13, 1996 and ended on December 28, 1998. His chaotic and messy personae from the original ''Cat in the Hat'' book has been noticeably toned down, portraying him as more of an omniscient trickster narrating, and helping other characters in, stories from around Seussville. The character was performed by Bruce Lanoil in the show's first season, with Martin P. Robinson taking over in season 2. Instead of Thing One and Thing Two from the original story, the Cat is usually seen in the company of Little Cats A, B and C from ''Comes Back''. ''The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!'' is a British-Canadian-American animated television series that premiered on August 7, 2010, and ended on October 14, 2018. It was based on the book series "The Cat in the Hat's Learning Library" which reveals the name of the boy who narrated the original book to be Dick. It starred Martin Short as the voice of the Cat. The Cat in this series is portrayed as a genuinely wise, but still adventurous, guide to Sally and Nick (who replaced Sally's brother Dick).

Live-action film

In 2003, ''The Cat in the Hat (film), The Cat in the Hat'', a live-action film adaptation, was released, starring Mike Myers as the Cat. The film grossed $133,960,541 worldwide on an estimated $109 million budget. It was poorly received by critics, and a planned sequel was subsequently cancelled. Due to the film's failure, Audrey Geisel, Seuss' widow, decided not to allow any further live-action adaptations of her husband's work.

Proposed animated film

In 2012, following the financial success of ''The Lorax (film), The Lorax'', an animated film adaptation of ''The Lorax'', Universal Pictures and Illumination (company), Illumination Entertainment announced plans to produce a CGI adaptation of ''The Cat in the Hat''. Rob Lieber was set to write the script, with Chris Meledandri as producer, and Audrey Geisel as the executive producer. However, the project never came to fruition. On January 24, 2018, it was announced that Warner Animation Group was in development of a different musical animated ''Cat in the Hat'' film as part of a creative partnership with Seuss Enterprises.

Soviet cartoon

In 1984, the book was adapted in Russian as a nine-minute cartoon called '':ru:Кот в колпаке, Кот в колпаке'' (The Cat in the Cap). The short omits Thing One and Thing Two, along with changing the Cat's hat into a cap; initially an umbrella when it comes in from the rainy street, and making a number of additional transformations throughout the story. Sally's name is not mentioned, neither is her brother Conrad.

PC

In 1997, the book was made into a Living Books adaption for the PC.

Stage play

In 2009, the Royal National Theatre created a The Cat in the Hat (play), stage version of the book, adapted and directed by Katie Mitchell. It has since toured the UK and been revived.

Character and themes

''Seussical'', a musical adaptation that incorporates aspects of many Dr. Seuss works, features the Cat in the Hat as narrator. The musical received weak reviews when it opened in November 2001 but eventually became a staple in regional and school theaters. A ride at Universal Studios' Islands of Adventure park in Orlando, Florida, has a ''Cat in the Hat'' theme. On July 26, 2016, Random House and Dr. Seuss Enterprises announced that the Cat in the Hat was running for US president.

Parodies

The ''Johnny Test'' episode "Sleepover at Johnny's" parodies the book itself. References and parodies included the talking, rhyming fish (which Susan and Mary created), Bling 1 and Bling 2 (obvious rhyming parodies of Thing One and Thing Two), a scene where Bling 1 and Bling 2 fly kites in the living room, and the 12-Handed Cleaner-Upper Flupper-Wupper (a parody of the cleaning machine). Johnny and Dukey thought it all seemed familiar, but forgot the title, although Johnny remarked, "Maybe I saw this in a book".

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cat In The Hat, The The Cat in the Hat, 1957 children's books Books by Dr. Seuss Fictional cats Fictional characters who use magic Dr. Seuss characters Literary characters introduced in 1957 BILBY Award-winning works Cat mascots American picture books Books about cats Children's books adapted into films Random House books Houghton Mifflin books