There’s a new Dr. Seuss book out this week
What Pet Should I Get? is the first release from the Springfield native in 25 years.
You can read it in a house, you can read it with a mouse. You can read it here or there, you can read it anywhere.
It, of course being What Pet Should I Get?, the new book from Dr. Seuss, AKA Springfield, Massachusetts, native Theodor Geisel.
Geisel passed away in 1991, but this book was recently discovered and Random House Publishing was quick to get their hands on it.
“This came from Seuss’ widow, Audrey Geisel,’’ says Mallory Loehr, Publishing Director for Random House Books for Young Readers. “We got a phone call from her and Claudia [Prescott], who was Ted’s assistant for many many years. they had been clearing out a closet in the house and came upon a box in his closet. They called us and said, ‘We’ve found a box of stuff, you may be interested in seeing what’s there.’’’
Loehr and Cathy Goldsmith, also a publisher at Random House who worked directly with Geisel, weren’t sure what to expect, but quickly realized upon seeing the salvaged work what a treasure it was.
“We went, and there was a lot of amazing stuff,’’ says Loehr. “Some were snippets of poems he had written and sketches for book, clearly he was working through a lot of ideas. But What Pet Should I Get? was all together, the line art was beautiful, it was clearly finished, it had the text was typed and taped on, and he had some notes about color. From that moment, we thought it could possibly be a book.’’
What Pet Should I Get? follows a brother and sister duo (the same as from One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, according to USA Today), as they go to a pet store in search of a new animal friend. The book also features an eight-page afterword explaining how the book was found and then published.
“We really worked for the text at the end of What Pet Should I Get? to be something that a parent could read to a kid,’’ says Loehr.
The afterword also contains information about Seuss’ history as an animal-lover as well as PETA-approved info about how to adopt pets without going through pet stores.
“It looks like [Geisel] was really a dog person when you look at his history, but of course his most famous character is a cat,’’ says Loehr. “We talk about his relationship with pets, and how this book was written a long time ago and kind of explain its place in time.’’
The 48-page book ensures that the legacy of Dr. Seuss continues to live on.
Images courtesy of Random House.
15 summer reading titles:
[bdc-gallery id=”316334″]
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com