Books/DR.Seuss?

Question

does anyone know why Ted Geisel chose the 236 words he did in the book that Cat and The Hat?

Answer 1

In May 1954, Life magazine published a report on illiteracy among school children, which concluded that children were not learning to read because their books were boring. Accordingly, Seuss's publisher made up a list of 400 words he felt were important and asked Dr. Seuss to cut the list to 250 words and write a book using only those words. Nine months later, Seuss, using 220 of the words given to him, completed The Cat in the Hat. This book was a tour de force—it retained the drawing style, verse rhythms, and all the imaginative power of Seuss's earlier works, but because of its simplified vocabulary could be read by beginning readers. A rumor exists, that in 1960, Bennett Cerf bet Dr. Seuss $50 that he couldn't write an entire book using only fifty words. The result was supposedly Green Eggs and Ham. The additional rumor that Cerf never paid Seuss the $50 has never been proven and is most likely untrue. These books achieved significant international success and remain very popular.

Answer 2

They were the list of basic words that children need to know by a certain age or something. When the movie Cat and the Hat came out into theaters, some of the local theaters would run a short bio of Ted Geisel during the previews. During that bio, it said that he was challenged to come up with a book that included only those basic words. I don't remember the exact details.

Answer 3

I heard (a long time ago) he wanted to write a book with under 500 words (somewhere around that number). Of course, the only type of literature he could do that in was children's lit. So he gave it a go!
Looks like it worked pretty well. :)

Answer 4

Because they rhyme, probably. :)