Such moments can peel away the years and instantly connect us back to our childhood, a time when egos were eclipsed by the sheer joy of having pushed ourselves forward.  One can almost hear the echoes of our past voices shouting, “Look at me! Look at me now!”

So too was it for Ted Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss, upon writing The Cat in The Hat.  The year was 1955 and Ted was challenged by his publisher to write a book using only 225 primer words.  The hope was to empower early readers to go it alone, to do the unthinkable and read an entire book without assistance.  The limited vocabulary proved a nearly impossible challenge for Ted, stating “I read the list forty times and got more and more discouraged.  It was like trying to make a strudel without any strudels.”

The Cat in the Hat was released in 1957 with the original jacket claiming “Many children will discover for the first time that they don’t need to be read to any more.”  They were going to do the unthinkable, and in so doing, Ted would do the same. 

The Cat in The Hat would go on to become one of the most important books in American literature and establish Ted as a “central character in the American literary mythology, sharing the pantheon with the likes of Mark Twain and F. Scott Fitzgerald,” (US News and World Report, 2007).

The same can be said of The Grinch. His reflection in the mirror was one of delirious pride. But later, upon true self-reflection, he realized that was not the way he wanted to live his life. His heart grew three sizes that day and his life was changed forever.

FROM CONCEPT DRAWING TO FINAL ILLUSTRATION

When one looks closely at these two images we find subtle changes between the rough concept drawing and final illustration, with the sum of these changes adding to the precarious tension of the scene.  If Ted truly wanted to convey what it feels like to accomplish the impossible, the precarious nature of the Cat balancing on the ball needed to push the limits.

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