The whimsical world of Dr. Seuss is still so popular more than eight decades since author Theodor Seuss Geisel published his first children's book that the U.S. Census Bureau partnered with Dr. Seuss Enterprises to promote the 2020 Census!

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Theodor Seuss Geisel was born in Springfield, MA, on March 2, 1904, a short distance away from the Mulberry Street he made famous with the publication of his first children's storybook—And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street.  After graduating from Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH, and briefly attending graduate school in the United Kingdom, he began submitting his stories and illustrations to publishers.  His first cartoon featuring two clownish characters riding camels appeared in the July 16, 1927, issue of The Saturday Evening Post.  Soon after, he began working for the New York City, NY-based magazine Judge and began signing his work "Dr. Seuss" for that publication in 1928.  That same year, he wrote advertising copy and jingles and published stories and illustrations in popular national magazines like Life and Vanity Fair.  He also published a series of nonfiction books containing humorous children's phrases (Boners and More Boners) in 1931.  His success with advertising copy and nonfiction anthologies was tempered when dozens of publishers rejected his manuscript and illustrations for And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street.  Only after a friend from Dartmouth College intervened did Vanguard Press agree to publish the work in 1937.  Following positive reviews of Mulberry Street, Geisel wrote four more children's books prior to World War II: The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins (1938), The King's Stilts (1938), The Seven Lady Godivas (1939), and Horton Hatches the Egg (1940).

Shortly before the United States entered World War II in 1941, Geisel focused on political cartoons that supported President Franklin Roosevelt, criticized dictators Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, and denounced racism against Jewish and Black Americans.  In 1942, he illustrated war bond posters for the U.S. Treasury and drew patriotic cartoons for the War Production Board.  After joining the U.S. Army in 1943, Geisel commanded the Animation Department of the U.S. Army Air Forces' First Motion Picture Unit developing instructional and propaganda films.  After the war, Geisel and his wife moved to the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, CA.  Between 1947 and 1990, Geisel delighted readers with the regular publication of new colorfully-illustrated books written in verse, including McElligot's Pool (1947); Horton Hears a Who! (1954); The Cat in the Hat and How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1957); Green Eggs and Ham (1960); Fox in Socks (1965); The Lorax (1971); Because a Little Bug Went Ka-Choo!! (1975); The Butter Battle Book (1984); and the last storybook published before his death—Oh, the Places You'll Go! (1991).

More than three decades after his death, Theodor Geisel remains one of the most popular authors in the world.  An estimated 500-700 million copies of his books have been sold worldwide, ranking him alongside some of the most famous writers in American history, including Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway, and Stephen King.  His most popular stories like Green Eggs and Ham and The Cat in the Hat have sold millions individually and have been translated into dozens of languages including Arabic, Braille, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Latin, Japanese, Persian, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese.  During the holidays, television broadcasts and streamed showings of 1966's How the Grinch Stole Christmas created by famed animator and filmmaker Chuck Jones and the 2000 live action retelling of that story starring Jim Carrey are much-anticipated holiday events that still draw families together.  Other popular adaptations of Geisel's work include the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Seussical (2000); live-action theatrical release of The Cat in the Hat (2003) starring Michael Meyers;  and the 2017 animated release of The Lorax featuring voice actors Danny DeVito, Betty White, and Taylor Swift.  In the years to come, moviegoers can look forward to even more Dr. Seuss-inspired movies, including a film adaptation of Oh, the Places You'll Go! directed by critically acclaimed director John M. Chu.  Nearly 9 decades since publishing his first storybook, Geisel's work and its adaptation to a variety of formats including books, films, video games, toys, and clothing remains as relevant and beloved as ever.much of Geisel's work remains as popular and entertaining as ever.

You can learn more about Theodore "Dr. Seuss" Geisel and children's literature using Census Bureau data and records. For example:

• Theodor Seuss Geisel was born in Springfield, MA, in March 1904. Four years before his birth, the city in western Massachusetts was home to 62,059 people. In addition to being home to the Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum (opened in 2009), the Census Bureau's population estimates program reported that Springfield was home to 153,672 in 2023.
  
  
• Like Geisel, children's book author Robert L. May also got his start as in the publishing world as an advertising copywriter. May wrote Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer while he worked as an advertising copywriter for the Montgomery Ward department store in 1939. Written as a holiday promotion, the book proved so popular that the department store gave away more than 2.4 million copies in its first year of publication. In 1948, Max Fleischer directed an 8-minute animated film based on May's story that became part of Montgomery Ward's holiday advertising. That same year, Johnny Marks wrote the song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." Sung by cowboy-crooner Gene Autry, the holiday song quickly rose to the top of the American pop music charts. In 1964, Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass produced a stop-motion animated television special based on Robert May's story and narrated by American singer and actor Burl Ives. Like the 1966 animated version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the television adaptation of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is still "must watch television" when it airs during the winter holidays.
  
  
• In the decades before Theodore Geisel published his first children's book in 1937, children rushed to bookstores and libraries to read the newest books from author L. Frank Baum. The first printing of Baum's 1900 book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, sold out in weeks. Over the next 20 years, children eagerly awaited the next installment in his Oz-themed novels. In August 1939, families packed movie theaters when The Wizard of Oz starring Judy Garland debuted. Although Baum's last book was published more than a century ago, his novels are still considered some of the most popular and imaginative works of children's literature ever written.
  
  
• Theodor Geisel won the 1984 Pulitzer Prize "for his special contribution over nearly half a century to the education and enjoyment of America's children and their parents." Named for newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer, Pulitzer Prizes have been awarded since 1917 to notable authors, playwrights, musicians, journalists, and photographers, including: Old Man and the Sea author Ernest Hemingway; Robert Frost who is the only poet to win four Pulitzer Prizes; authors William Faulkner and John Updike; writer and poet Navarre Scott Momaday, who was the first American Indian to win a Pulitzer Prize in 1969; and playwright Thomas "Tennessee" Williams. More contemporary Pulitzer Prize winners include jazz musician Wynton Marsalis; Chinese-American composers Du Yun and Zhou Long; singer, playwright, and actor Lin-Manuel Miranda; and Rap and Hip Hop musician and songwriter Kendrick Lamar.
  
  
• American libraries are home to thousands of books written for children. Library employees not only maintain the books and cataloging systems, but also host story time, meet the author, and literacy events to encourage children to develop a lifelong love for reading. In 2018, the American Community Survey reported that 285,540 people worked as librarians, curators, and archivists. Of this number, 219,725 (77 percent) were female. More recently, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the median pay for librarians and media specialists was $64,370 in 2023.
  
  
• The Census Bureau collects data about establishments producing all genres of books, including children's books like those published by Theodore "Dr. Seuss" Geisel. The Census Bureau's County Business Patterns series showed that in 2022 there were 2,440 book publishers (NAICS 511130) in the United States. These establishments employed 68,114 employees during the pay period that included March 12, 2022. The majority of these publishers—1,476 establishments—were small businesses employing less than 5 people.
  
  
• During World War II, Theodor Geisel commanded the animation department of the U.S. Army's 1st Motion Picture Unit. He wrote and illustrated pamphlets and animated films that were part of the famous Private Snafu cartoon series. Geisel served alongside a number of famous entertainers in this unit. For example, the future 40th President of the United States Ronald Reagan, then an actor, served in the unit and narrated the 1943 Academy Award-winning documentary Beyond the Line of Duty/. He also narrated other films and appeared in the musical This is the Army. Other stars of radio, stage, and screen who served alongside Geisel and Reagan in the unit included Clark Gable, William Holden, Alan Ladd, Burgess Meredith, Jimmy Stewart, and future Lone Ranger star Clayton Moore.
  
  
• Following World War II, Geisel and his wife moved to the La Jolla community of San Diego, CA. In 1940, the population of San Diego was 1,110,549, making it the sixth largest urban place in the United States. More recently, the 2020 Census found that "America's Finest City" was the nation's eighth largest urban place with a population of 1,386,932, behind New York City, NY (8,804,190); Los Angeles, CA (3,898,747); Chicago, IL (2,746,388); Houston, TX (2,304,580); Phoenix, AZ (1,608,139); Philadelphia, PA (1,603,797); and San Antonio, TX (1,434,625).
  
  
• Did you know that Green Eggs and Ham is Dr. Seuss' best-selling children's book? The author wrote the book after being challenged to write a story with 50 or fewer different words. Although most diners would probably avoid green eggs, statistics collected by the Census Bureau and U.S. Department of Agriculture have shown that eggs and ham are popular breakfast staples. The Census Bureau first collected data about the nation's farms in 1820. Congress transferred responsibility for the census of agriculture to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 1997, but the Census Bureau's National Processing Center in Jeffersonville, IN, continues to design and mail questionnaires and process the data. In 2022, the Census of Agriculture reported that there were 1,900,487 farms in the United States, including 60,809 hog and pig farms and 240,530 farms raising egg-laying chickens ("layers"). These farms reported having more than 69 million hogs and pigs and 240 million layers in 2022. More recently, the USDA's publication Chicken and Eggs reported that total egg production in June 2024 was 8.81 billion while the Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report found there were approximately 74.5 million hogs and pigs on American farms on June 1, 2024. That's potentially a lot of green eggs and ham!
  
  
• On May 28, 1999, the animated world of Dr. Seuss came to life in Orlando, FL, as one of the Universal Islands of Adventure called “Seuss Landing.”  Today, Orlando is a popular tourist destination thanks to its proximity to Walt Disney World, Epcot Center, SeaWorld, LEGOLAND, and many others. Since Gatorland became Orlando's first popular, modern theme park in 1949, the city's population has grown from 51,826 in 1950 to an estimated population of 320,742 in 2023.
  
  
• Did you know the Census Bureau partnered with Dr. Seuss Enterprises to promote the 2020 Census?  The Seussville.com website included a 2020 Census landing page for parents and educators and they created coloring and activity sheets for Statistics in Schools.  They also worked with Random House to give away books at the February 2020 “Counting Young Children” national event in Cleveland, Ohio.

Data from the 1940 Census of Housing showed that 15 million American homes had a refrigerator; 9.2 million used ice boxes; and more than 9.3 million homes had no type of refrigerating equipment.

By 1950, more than 33.7 million homes had electric- or gas-powered mechanical refrigerators.

In 2011, 99.2 percent of American households had mechanical refrigeration.