Module VI
Anticipation Guide
Featuring Dr. Seuss
Lisa Bays
The Life and Times of Dr. Seuss
Making predictions is a way to help ensure the students
are fully engaged and helps to focus their attention,
while they are reading. Having students make
predications, often helps them feel that they are
participating in the lesson rather than simply being an
observer. It helps to connect them to the author or
characters instead of just reading what the author has
written.
Discussions about how well they were able to predict
events after reading the texts results in students sharing
viewpoints and leads to a deeper understanding of the
material. In addition, it is an excellent tool that gives
the teacher immediate feedback about how well the
students understand the material.
Before the article
Agree
Disagree
Anticipation Guide
Statement
1. An author must have a
doctorate degree when
publishing their name on books.
2. President Theodore Roosevelt
give Theodor Seuss Geisel a medal.
3. Dr. Seuss never suffered from
stage fright.
4. Dr. Seuss was an okay student
in college and while in college he
wrote for a magazine called JackO-Lantern.
5. During WWII Dr. Seuss found
himself behind enemy lines and he
had to be rescued by troops.
6. Dr. Seuss never wrote any books
after he turned 60 years old.
After the article
Agree Disagree
Why?
The Life and Times of Dr. Seuss
No American writer has had as great an impact on children's literature as
Dr. Seuss. His imaginative characters, vivid illustrations, and catchy rhymes are instantly
recognizable to anyone who grew up reading his stories. The author himself is less well-known; while
he worked tirelessly at his craft, he didn't seek personal fame. Most of the details of his private life
aren’t common knowledge to fans of his books. For instance, it’s a little-known fact that Dr. Seuss
wasn’t actually a doctor—he added the prefix to his pseudonym as a goofy way to lend credibility to
his menagerie of characters.
A PROSPEROUS & PATRIOTIC CHILDHOOD
Theodor Seuss Geisel was born on March 2, 1904, in Springfield, Massachusetts. The town was
booming, with several large manufacturing companies and a thriving population of German
immigrants. Ted's grandfather and father owned a successful brewery, and the future Dr. Seuss
grew up in the midst of a bustling, prosperous extended family. A child during World War I, Ted
acquired a sense of patriotism that would remain with him his entire life. As a Scout, he worked to
sell U.S. War Bonds. In an oft-told story, he sold so many that he was supposed to receive an
award, along with 10 other boys, from President Theodore Roosevelt. However, during the awards
ceremony, Roosevelt found that he had only nine medals to give, and when he got to Ted, standing
at the end of the row, he asked, "What's this boy doing here?" For the rest of his life, Geisel suffered
from acute stage fright, and sometimes skipped speaking engagements altogether.
TRADING ACADEMIA FOR STORYTELLING
As Prohibition loomed and threatened to put his father out of business, Geisel was accepted into
Dartmouth College. Enrolled as an English major, he proved to be only a mediocre student. Ted
divided his time between his studies and writing for the Dartmouth humor magazine, Jack-oLantern. It was there that he discovered his love of designing books with pictures and words,
though he said it took him "almost a quarter of a century" before he felt he had succeeded.
As Geisel's senior year came to a close, his father asked where he'd be going next. When Ted
answered that he'd gotten a scholarship to study at Lincoln College in Oxford, his father
immediately passed the news on to the town newspaper, who published it the next day.
Unfortunately, Geisel was exaggerating a bit when he said he'd "gotten" the scholarship; he’d
applied, but ultimately was rejected. Nevertheless, his father sent Geisel to England in 1925 for a
three-year stay.
AN INNOVATOR FINDS HIS MUSE
It was during his time in Europe that Ted met his first wife, another American student named Helen
Palmer. Geisel often told the story of how he and Helen broke the news of their relationship to Helen's
mother. The first night Mrs. Palmer met Geisel, Helen, out of the blue, said, "Mother, what do you
think of 'this' as a husband?" "But I don't even know his name!" her mother exclaimed. Geisel reached
into his billfold and pulled out a piece of paper. "Madam," he said, "my card."
After Geisel and Helen married and moved to New York City, he started to get work in magazines
and advertisements. His “Quick, Henry, The Flit!” campaign for Flit bug spray was legendary, and he
soon branched out into other Standard Oil products, where his unique illustrations seemed to have the
power to sell virtually anything. During this time, he published his first children’s book, And to Think
That I Saw It on Mulberry Street.
WORDS IN THE MIDST OF WAR
As World War II loomed, Geisel found himself increasingly drawn to the war effort. He had no
sympathy for isolationists, and criticized them copiously along with the leaders of Japan, Germany,
and Italy. He wound up in Hollywood, doing animation and screenplays for Colonel Frank Capra’s
propaganda unit. At one point, while taking a film to Europe to present to various generals, he
found himself stuck behind enemy lines. Thankfully, he was rescued soon after by U.S. troops.
Well-known children's book author Theodor Seuss Geisel After the war, the Geisels, who were now
living in La Jolla, California, took a trip to Japan to work on a cultural piece for Life magazine.
Tiring of the movie business, Geisel wanted to spend more time on his children’s books. With the
advent of the baby boomer generation, children’s books were in high demand, and “Dr. Seuss”
became the acknowledged master. He held exceptionally high standards for himself and the people
he worked with, including his wife, Helen, who authored the Beginner Book A Fish Out of Water.
Geisel was well-known at the publisher’s office for paying close attention to the details of printing,
particularly with regard to the colors used in his illustrations.
A LEGENDARY PARTNERSHIP ENDS
After a long illness, Geisel’s wife Helen died in 1967, a year after his first TV cartoon aired. Geisel
was grief-stricken. In addition to overseeing his business functions, his wife had served as his primary
companion, collaborator, and motivator.
An older Theodor Seuss Geisel aka Dr Seuss at his desk
PROLIFIC LATER YEARS
After remarrying to Audrey Stone Diamond, he resumed his hectic schedule. Geisel produced films
nearly every year through the 1970s, and two to three books a year almost without pause between
1957 and 1976. After 1980 he slowed down, publishing one book a year, then every two years,
until his final book, Oh, the Places You’ll Go!, was published in 1990. At the age of 87, Theodor Seuss
Geisel passed away on September 24, 1991 in California.
Before the story
Agree
Lorax Anticipation Guide
Disagree
Statement
1. It is everyone’s job to protect
natural resources.
2. Using up natural resources is
okay as long as the products are
used for something people use.
3. If an animal’s habitat is
destroyed by humans, it can easily
find a new one.
4. Dr. Seuss wrote The Lorax to
teach people about conservation.
5. All natural resources that have
been diminished can be renewed.
6. The author’s purpose of
The Lorax was to entertain.
After the story
Agree Disagree
Why?
http://www.seussville.com/loraxproject/
Reference
Early Moments. (2014). The Life and Times of Dr. Seuss. Retrieved from Early Moments:
https://www.earlymoments.com/dr-seuss/The-Life-and-Times-of-Dr-Seuss/
The Life and Times of Dr. Seuss