Beloved children's book author Dr. Seuss died in 1991.

Born Theodor (“Ted”) Seuss Geisel in 1904, Ted Geisel showed an early interest in humor and cartooning. Geisel's affinity for cartooning earned him positions in advertising, primarily with Standard Oil, and many opportunities to contribute to magazines and papers, such as Life and Vanity Fair, before branching into illustration of children's books. An early influence on Geisel that would show up in his children's literature was his mother's childhood habit of chanting the names of pie varieties she sold in her father's bakery. When Geisel himself was a child, she would use these chants and singsong rhymes to help him go to sleep at night. Geisel used this influence as he began his writing career with And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street. In the 1950s, Geisel was approached by Random House and Houghton Mifflin to write a children's primer that would be more interesting to children than the books of the time. His book titled The Cat in the Hat, published in 1957 and just one of Geisel's multitude of publications, launched Dr. Seuss into the pantheon of exemplary children's book authors/illustrators, where he has remained best-known and best-loved even since his death in 1991.

ReadWriteThink
In Dr. Seuss's Sound Words: Playing with Phonics and Spelling (K–2), students are encouraged to listen to the sounds around them and then write their own book, using sound words. Focused on the sound words in Dr. Seuss's Mr. Brown Can MOO! Can You?, this lesson helps students develop spelling strategies that help them move from phonemes, the sounds they make, to graphemes, the written representations of those sounds.

Teaching Short Vowel Discrimination Using Dr. Seuss Rhymes (K–2) uses Dr. Seuss rhymes to introduce students to common rimes, or word families, vital to their early reading and writing skills. Students discover patterns in words, sort words based on their vowel patterns and apply their knowledge in reading and writing activities.

Reading Everywhere with Dr. Seuss (K–2) helps students see places where they can read and enjoy books, such as on a trip to Grandma's, at the pool or at the doctor's office. As they create a book modeled on the rhythm and rhyme of "Green Eggs and Ham" by Dr. Seuss, they discover all the special places they can read.

In Seuss and Silverstein: Posing Questions, Presenting Points (9–12), classic stories provide the ideal springboard for struggling readers to discuss relevant social issues. Working in small groups, students select and read books or short stories by Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein. Each group then prepares critical thinking questions and leads a class discussion about the issues raised in the story. Students use the interactive Literary Elements Map to explore the conflict in their selected texts.

In Id, Ego, and Superego in Dr. Seuss’s Cat in the Hat (9–12), The Cat in the Hat is used as a primer to teach high school students how to analyze a literary work using the literary tools of plot, theme, characterization and psychoanalytical criticism.

Students study Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels by reading Dr. Seuss's The Butter Battle Book as an example of satire in From Dr. Seuss to Jonathan Swift: Exploring the History behind the Satire (9–12).

Xpeditions
In Barbaloot Suits: Preserving Biodiversity (K–2), students compare a situation in which farmers unknowingly destroyed a plant species with the conservation themes outlined in Dr. Seuss's "The Lorax," and then summarize the Seuss work through illustration.