In his recently published biography, Becoming Dr. Seuss: Theodor Geisel and the Making of an American Imagination, Brian Jay Jones shares a wealth of information and insights about a culural icon.

As you may not already know about Geisel:

1904: He was born born in Springfield, Massachusetts
1921 to 1925: Dartmouth College, and then (briefly) Oxford University and The Louvre
1927: Marries Helen Palmer
1928 until about 1938: Creates successful advertising campaigns
1937: Begins to publish several dozen books, beginning with “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street”
1941-1943: Draws political cartoons opposing isolationism for PM Magazine
1943 Joins the Army (works for and with Frank Capra)
1947: “Design For Death” wins Academy Award for best documentary
1953: Cartoon “Gerald McBoing-Boing” released
1957: “The Cat in the Hat” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”
1966: A collaboration with Chuck Jones and others, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” airs on CBS
1967: Wife Helen commits suicide
1968: Marries Audrey Stone Dimond
1971: “The Lorax”
1977: “Halloween Is Grinch Night” on ABC network
1990: “Oh the Places You’ll Go”
1991: Death

Although he had no children, here are his thoughts about writing for them. First, he identifies a child’s “Seven Needs”: a need to belong, a need to love and be loved, a need to achieve, a need to know, a need for aesthetic satisfaction, and a need for change. “No juvenile writer can ever hope to get to first base unless he can answer at least one of those needs.”

Moreover, “kids know if you begin to condescend or write down to them. That’s been the trouble with children’s books and elementary textbooks for years…[and] the kids don’t like it. Why should they? The old tellers of fantastic fairy tales, Grimm and Andersen, never talked down to their audiences.”