Introuducing..... The Cat in the Hat

Theodor Geisel, writing as Dr. Seuss, created The Cat in the Hat in response to the May 25, 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."

Dr. Seuss responded to this "challenge," and began work. His publisher supplied him with a list of 400 words, ones that the publisher thought children would be learning in school. His publisher told him to cut the list in half and to try and write an interesting enough book for children. Nine months later Dr. Seuss finished The Cat In The Hat, which used 223 words that appeared on the list plus 13 words that did not.

The story is 1629 words in length and uses a vocabulary of only 236 distinct words, of which 54 occur 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.

In the book, The Cat does most of what the children are not allowed to do, with his sidekicks, Thing One and Thing Two. The family pet is an articulate goldfish. T