A Man and a Legacy

While Ted died on September 24, 1991, his legacy and brilliance still live on in the life of every child, to this day. At the time of his death, some 200 million copies of his books had been sold throughout the world. Honors bestowed on him were uncountable, including an Oscar, two Emmys, a Pullitzer Prize, a Peabody, a New York Library Literary Lion, three Caldecott Honor Awards, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award and many, many others (Seussville 2003). That does not even include the daily reward that he received from the millions of children who were touched by his books.

He was a great man who devoted his life to children, working a full time schedule at all points in his life, and feeling uncomfortable if he was not working. Even after his death his books lived on with sales continuing to soar, and other books created posthumously from compilations. With the establishment of Dr. Seuss Enterprises, his works have been transfered to multiple media forms with the Seussville.com website as an example. A memorial was constructed in his honor in his hometown of Springfield, Massaschusetts, complete with lifesize sculptures of his most famous characters as well Ted Geisel himself.

His memory lives in on in the minds of every individual whose childhood fell anytime after 1950. His books have shaped the minds of countless children, teaching them to read and write and explore their imagination, even if it leads to Sneetches and green eggs.