My Town Monday: Guess Who?

Lots of famous people end up living in San Diego. Why? Because we're a fun and interesting and delightful lot down here. Oh fine, because we have terrific weather.

See if you can guess who this is.

This children's author moved here in 1948. He lived in San Diego until 1991 when he died here of cancer.

He wrote under a pseudonym.

He wrote and illustrated 44 children's books.

His mother chanted rhymes to lull her children to sleep.

The rhythm of the ship's engines on an ocean voyage inspired his first book. Which was rejected TWENTY-SEVEN times before finally getting published. And this book just happens to have been my favorite book as a child. I checked it out of the bookmobile as often as the librarian would let me. *

Other things this author did: He was a cartoonist. He worked for 15 years in advertising (creating campaigns for Standard Oil). He developed animated training films for the U.S. military during WWII.

He wrote most of his books in anapestic tetrameter** and some in in trochaic tetrameter.*** (I give you these fancy terms to help you impress and dazzle at cocktail parties. I, myself, hope to impress and dazzle now that I've looked up said terms and learned what they mean!)

He attended Oxford, but never completed the doctoral program. He got married instead. His father always wanted him to be a doctor, so he used Dr. as part of his nom de plume.

In response to a 1954 Life Magazine article about the boring state of American primers, he wrote an entire children's book using only TWO HUNDRED THIRTY-SIX different (many of which were exciting) words for a total of 1,624 words.

If you haven't figured it out yet, here's a HUMONGOUS clue.

This book was about a cat.....

...in a hat.

Theodor Seuss Geisel AKA Dr. Seuss

*And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street

** anapestic tetrameter: two weak beats, then a strong beat
Eg.: And today the Great Yertle, that Marvelous he
Is King of the Mud. That is all he can see.

*** trochaic tetrameter: a strong beat, then a short beat with four units per line
Eg.: One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish

Please visit Travis Erwin's blog where you'll find his My Town Monday post and links to the other participants.


Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Seuss
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/theampersand/archive/2009/03/02/five-things-you-didn-t-know-about-dr-seuss.aspx
http://www.catinthehat.org/history.htm