Maryann N. Weidt

This book is an excellent biography of children's author Theodore Geisel - better known as Dr. Seuss - geared for children in upper elementary / middle school (although I'm not sure if by that age some children might start to feel like Dr. Seuss is "babyish" and therefore wouldn't want to read about his life). However, I would even recommend this for some adults who want to learn a little more about a beloved author whose books they cherished as children or to find out more in order to share show more interesting facts with their children who are just discovering Dr. Seuss. I definitely learned a lot about Geisel's life through this book that I hadn't previously known, such as his work in film media (both WWII propaganda documentaries and children's cartoon and live-action movies). A well-researched book, fun facts abound in it, including quotes from Geisel himself. For instance, I loved this gem of a passage: Ted explained, "My animals look the way they do because I can't draw." He called his method "exaggerated mistakes." Once Ted was supposed to draw a goat for an advertising billboard. The ad executive thought the goat resembled a duck. So Ted drew him a duck. The client thought it was a terrific goat." Of course, because it is intended for children, some of less pretty things in Geisel's life are watered down. For instance, his first wife Helen simply "died at home," not intentionally overdosed on barbiturates due to a long battle with cancer and a realization that her husband was falling in love with some else. Likewise, when Geisel soon afterwards married that other woman, it's a happy passage: "Fortunately, however, Ted found someone to share both sadness and celebration. Audrey Stone Diamond had been a friend to both Ted and Helen for several years, and now she became Ted's wife." All messiness is swept under the table, arguably as it should be. The book contains some pencil drawings as well, which I feel like didn't add much to the reading experience but could be helpful for children who still like to see some visuals. Overall, I thought this was a great behind-the-scenes introduction to the man who created such classics as The Cat in the Hat, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and more. It definitely inspired me to go read more of his books that I had missed in childhood, especially now that I knew the backstories behind how he came up with those particular stories. Hopefully it would do the same for the children who read it. show less

Oh, the Places He Went spans from Theodor Geisel's childhood to death. The book highlights many of the memorable and humorous moments in Geisel's life, along with informing the reader on how Geisel became Dr. Seuss. Personally, I found myself inspired by the adventures described within this biography. I would recommend this to children and adults who grew up reading Dr. Seuss. The illustrations are filled with a great amount of detail and successfully show Geisel age slowly throughout the book.

I liked this book for two reasons. The first reason is that the language is descriptive. The language helps the audience envision the setting because of the detailed description that the author provides. For example, the author writes, "Though it was morning, piano music and rowdy songs rang out from gambling houses. Wagons bounced over deep ruts in unpaved streets, and wooden planks served as sidewalks. Few corners had street lamps" (p. 35). This descriptive language provides the audience show more with an ample amount of detail about the setting so that they can create a vivid image in their minds throughout the story. I also like this book because of the illustrations. Though the illustrations are sporadic throughout the book, the illustrations help to enhance the story as the audience reads it. The use of black and white pictures helps create a historic and nostalgic feeling in the book. The use of pencil and charcoal provides detailed illustrations, but also enhance the writing of the book because the audience is provided with an image that relates to the story. Throughout this biography, Levi Strauss' strengths and weaknesses are presented. The author's point of view about the person is authentic and unbiased and provides an appropriate level of detail for the target audience. Overall, the big idea of this book is to share the life story of Levi Strauss and his struggles that ultimately led to his success with blue jeans. show less

Oh, the Places He Went A story about Dr. Seuss, written by Maryann N Weidt, illustrated by Karry Maguire, and published in 1994 by Carolrhoda Books, is a biographical chapter book on the greatest children’s author in history, Dr. Seuss. This is a magical book that takes us into the life of Dr Seuss. The illustrations, engaging details of his life, and how he came up with his beloved characters, really opened me up to one of my favorite authors. The illustrations in this book are spread show more randomly through the book in black and grey pencil design. These illustrations helped to bring the story closer to reality and gave me a visualization of Dr Seuss. I also feel that the illustrations enhance the story and fit the written text. On page 35 we see Dr Seuss drawing in his studio at his house. In the text we read that his studio was full of different paper types and that he would have a high pile of rejected drawings. In the illustration to go along with this we see Dr. Seuss completely emerged in his drawings and writings. This illustration shows us how the illustrator brought us closer to the story. This book gave me more insight to Dr Seuss than I have ever known. I did not know that he won three academy awards in his lifetime for his work in the film industry. What shocked me the most about this whole biographical book is that, at one point, Dr Seuss says he thought he was never a great artist. This honestly shocked me. I thought that t Dr Seuss is one of the best artists to ever draw a children’s book. Before reading this piece I did not know that one of his works, The Butter Battle Book, spent six months on the New York Times best seller list. This list is usually reserved for young adult or adult books. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that one of his works appeared on the NY time’s Best Sellers list. Nobody quite know what a Sneech is, or what a Onceler is. I have always been curious as to what Dr Seuss’ inspiration was for his characters and his characters name. It turns out that they came from the world around him. According to the book Dr. Seuss was on a train when a rather stern looking man gave him the idea to create The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. Another time Dr Seuss created his beloved character of the Lorax while observing strange animals and plants in Africa. Life’s journey is the big idea for this story. The title of the book is a play on words of one of his most famous pieces Oh the Places You’ll GO. This book is all about how Dr Seuss traveled his life and how we can all travel our lives journeys. show less