Father of the Lorax Turns 75

By Stefan Kanfer

Dr. Seuss prescribes a sense of wonder and fantasy

He is one of the last doctors to make house calls: about 80 million so far.

In those houses, Dr. Seuss has journeyed on beyond Spock to a place of honor in nurseries all over the world. The feeling is reciprocated. Seuss, a.k.a. Theodor Geisel, is a failed novelist who now believes that "adults are obsolete children and the hell with them." By devoting 41 books to kids, Geisel has become a celebrity and a millionaire without losing a sense of wonder or fantasy. His rhythmic verse rivals Lewis Carroll's, and his freestyle drawing recalls the loony sketches of Edward Lear, perhaps be cause, like those masters of nonsense, he fathered no children except those of his imagination. And what children: the Cat in the Hat, the Lorax who tries to protect the environment against predators, the Grinch who stole Christmas, Horton the elephant who nests in a tree, Yertle the Turtle, the Sneetches, the Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz, the Tufted Gustard, the Stuffed Ormie . . .

The son of a Massachusetts zoo superintendent says that he is "more comfortable with animals with humans." But he will have a hard time making kids believe it. This month, in celebration of Geisel's 75th birthday, his audience will be happy to raise their paper cups on high and testify:

For laughs that shake the tiny thoraxes We thank the father of all Loraxes; May childhood problems be illusory And joys live on in Dr. Seussery.

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