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HISTORY Dr. Seuss created ''The Cat In The Hat'' in response to the May 24, 1954 Life Magazine article by John Hersey , 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:
Hersey’s arguments were enumerated over ten pages of Life Magazine, which was the leading periodical during that time. After detailing many issues contributing to the dilemma connected with student reading levels, Hersey asked toward the end of the article:
Dr. Seuss responded to this “challenge” by rigidly limiting himself to a small set of words from an elementary school vocabulary list, then crafted a story based upon two of the words which rhymed—cat and hat. Dr. Seuss' books were created to supplement the ' Look Say ' reading programs taught in schools. The first of which even includes the phrase "We looked, and we saw him, the Cat in the Hat." Dr. Seuss' publisher supplied him with a sight vocabulary of 223 words which he was to use to write his books, a sight vocabulary that was in harmony with the sight words the child would be learning in school. In an interview he gave in Arizona Magazine in June 1981 Dr. Seuss claimed the book took nine months to complete due to the difficulty in writing a book from the 223 selected words. He continued to explain that the title for the book came from his desire to have the title rhyme and the first two suitable rhyming words that he could find from the list were 'cat' and 'hat'. Dr. Seuss also regretted the association of his book and the 'look say' reading method adopted during the Dewey revolt in the 1920s. He expressed the opinion that ''" {Link without Title} killing Phonics was one of the greatest causes of illiteracy in the country."'' THE CAT IN THE HAT In the first book featuring the character (''The Cat in the Hat'', 1957 ), the Cat brings a cheerful, exotic and exuberant form of chaos to a household of two young children one rainy day while their mother is out. Bringing with him two creatures appropriately named Thing One and Thing Two, the Cat performs all sorts of wacky tricks to amuse the children, with mixed results. The Cat's antics are vainly opposed by the family pet, who is a sentient and articulate goldfish. The children (Sally and her older brother, who serves as the narrator) ultimately prove exemplary Latchkey Child ren, capturing the Things and bringing the Cat under control. He cleans up the house on his way out, disappearing seconds before the mother arrives. The book has been popular since its publication, and a logo featuring the Cat adorns all Dr. Seuss publications and animated films produced after ''Cat in the Hat''. Seuss wrote the book because he felt that there should be more entertaining and fun material for beginning readers. From a literary point of view, the book is a feat of skill, since it simultaneously maintains a strict Triple Meter , keeps to a tiny Vocabulary , and tells an entertaining tale. Literary Critic s occasionally write recreational essays about the work, having fun with issues such as the absence of the mother and the psychological or symbolic characterizations of Cat, Things, and Fish. This book is written in a style common to Dr. Seuss, Anapestic Tetrameter (see Dr. Seuss's Meters ). ''The Cat in the Hat'' has also been translated into Latin with the title ''Cattus Petasatus'' and into Yiddish with the title "di Kats der Payats". The story is 1626 words in length and uses a vocabulary of only 236 unique words, of which 54 occur exactly once and 33 twice. Only a single word – ''another'' – has three syllables, while 14 have two and the remaining 221 are monosyllabic. The longest words are ''something'' and ''playthings''. ''The Cat in the Hat'' has gone on to sell 7.2 million copies in the United States alone (up to 2000), making it the 9th Best-selling Hardcover Children's Book Of All Time . THE CAT IN THE HAT COMES BACK The Cat in the Hat made a return appearance in this 1958 Sequel . On this occasion, he leaves Thing One and Thing Two at home, but does bring along Little Cat A, nested inside his Hat . Little Cat A doffs his hat to reveal Little Cat B, who in turn reveals C, and so on down to the microscopic Little Cat Z, who turns out to be the key to the plot. The crisis involves a pink bathtub ring. The book ends in a burst of flamboyant versification, with the full list of little cats arranged into a metrically-perfect rhymed Quatrain . It teaches the reader the alphabet. Little Cats A, B and C were also characters in the 1996 TV series The Wubbulous World Of Dr. Seuss . The Cat in The Hat Comes Back was part of the Beginner Book Video series along with There's A Wocket In My Pocket! and Fox In Socks . Adrian Edmondson narrated both Cat in the Hat stories for a HarperCollins audiobook that also includes '' Fox In Socks '' and '' Green Eggs And Ham ''. BEGINNER BOOKS The Cat In The Hat was published by Random House. However because of its success, an independent publishing company was formed, called Beginner Books. Geisel was the president and editor. Beginner Books was chartered as a series of books oriented toward various stages of early reading development. (Note: From 1957 to 1960, Random House was the distributor of Beginner Books. In 1960, Random House purchased Beginner Books, and it became a division of Random HouseMorgan, Judith & Neil; "Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel: A Biography"; pg. 167; Random House; 1995..) The second book in the series was nearly as popular, The Cat In The Hat Comes Back, published in 1958. Springing from this series of beginning readers were such standards as A Fly Went By (1958), Sam and the Firefly (1958), Green Eggs and Ham (1960), Go, Dog. Go! (1961), Hop On Pop (1963), and Fox in Socks (1965), each a monument in the picturebook industry, and also significant in the historical development of early readers. All are still in print and remain very popular over forty years after their initial publication. Creators in the Beginner Book series were such luminaries as Jan & Stan Berenstain, P. D. Eastman, Roy McKie, and Helen Palmer (Mr. Geisel’s wife). The Beginner Books dominated the children’s picturebook market of the 1960’s, and still plays a significant role today within the phases of students’ reading development. The early success of Beginner Books, both from a commercial and learn-to-read perspective, initiated the blurring between educational and entertainment booksZielinski, Linda & Stan, "Childrens Picturebook Price Guide", Page 14, Flying Moose Books, 2006.. ADAPTATIONS Television See Also: The Cat in the Hat (TV special) Film See Also: The Cat in the Hat (film) Seussical The Musical Seussical The Musical is a musical that combines different Dr. Seuss stories together. The Cat In The Hat plays the narrator, as well as a few minor characters. Educational CD game Living Books has created an educational CD game of the story, guided by animated characters. Software MacKiev brought this electronic version of the book to the Mac OS X. Ride A ride was built based upon the book in Seuss Landing in Islands Of Adventure in 1999. PARODIES
QUOTED IN THE US SENATE In the 110th Congres Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid compared the impasse over a bill to reform immigration with the mess created by the Cat in "The Cat in the Hat." He read lines of the book from the Senate floor, quoting "'That is good,' said the fish. 'He's gone away, yes. But your mother will come. She will find this big mess.'"1 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."2 Reid's hopes did not come about for as one analyst put it "the Cat in the Hat did not have to contend with Cloture ." EDITIONS All were published by Random House . The original edition was a joint publication with Houghton Mifflin .
The first edition was published in 1957, prior to the establishment of ISBNs. The first edition can be identified by the '200/200' in the top right corner of the front dust jacket flap , signifying the $2.00 selling price. The ''Cat In The Hat'' sold for $2.00 for the first year of publication, then was reduced to $1.95 with the establishment of Beginner Books in 1958. According to the Children's Picturebook Price Guide, 2006-2007 edition, The first edition ''Cat In The Hat'' has an estimated market value of $4000.
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