Scientist of the Day - Theodor Seuss Geisel

“And I do mean YOU,” drawing of an Anopheles mosquito, by Theodor Seuss Geisel, This is Ann, [by Theodor Seuss Geisel and Munro Leaf], p. 32, 1943 (The Linda Hall)

Theodor Seuss Geisel, an American children's book author and illustrator, died Sep. 24, 1991, at the age of 87.  He started writing under the name of Dr. Seuss while still in college, at Dartmouth and Oxford, but he hadn't had much publishing success in the children's market when World War II intervened, and he found himself doing commission work for the War Production Board. Then, in 1942, he was inducted as a captain to take charge of the Army's animation studio, producing short propaganda films. It was while holding this post that Geisel illustrated the only book of his that might possibly belong in a science library like ours. It was a tiny shirt-pocket-sized pamphlet called This is Ann, She's Dying to Meet You, about the dangers to soldiers of the Anopheles mosquito, which carries malaria.

Theodor Seuss Geisel in a U.S. Army uniform, photograph, ca 1943 (Wikimedia commons)

This is Ann was published by the War Department in 1943.  Geisel's name does not appear anywhere in the booklet, but if you have read any of Dr. Seuss’s children’s books, such as the Horton Hatches the Egg (1940) or McElligot 's Pool (1947), you will immediately recognize his hand in the renderings of Ann Opheles.

Front cover and title page, This is Ann!, [by Theodor Seuss Geisel and Munro Leaf], 1943 (The Linda Hall)

First page of text, by Munro Leaf, This is Ann, [by Theodor Seuss Geisel and Munro Leaf], p. 3, 1943 (The Linda Hall)

You will also notice immediately that the words do not sound like Dr. Seuss.  First of all, the text is prose, not verse; and second, it has no clever wordplay or rhymes.  This is because the author was not Geisel, but another children's author inducted into the Army's public relations division, named Munro Leaf. Leaf had already achieved the success in the children's book market that Geisel was seeking, with Ferdinand the Bull (1936), about a bull that prefers flowers to fighting. So it is quite a treat to see Seuss and Leaf teaming up to write and illustrate this silly little nothing of a book, with neither of them credited anywhere.

“She drinks BLOOD,” drawing by Theodor Seuss Geisel, This is Ann, [by Theodor Seuss Geisel and Munro Leaf], p. 6, 1943 (The Linda Hall)

Ann at dinner, drawing by Theodor Seuss Geisel, This is Ann, [by Theodor Seuss Geisel and Munro Leaf], p. 7, 1943 (The Linda Hall)

Leaf was probably happy to remain uncredited, since he just mailed in his contribution, but Geisel's drawings are witty and clever, and he deserves recognition and appreciation.   I wondered what the text might have looked like if Geisel had written it, and in verse. Here, courtesy of yours truly, is part of a verse to accompany our sixth image, in a semi-Seussian style:

I stand on my head and

Inject my proboscis

Right into your skin, 

In a manner preposterous 

Ann and a “sack of wet sand,” drawing by Theodor Seuss Geisel, This is Ann, [by Theodor Seuss Geisel and Munro Leaf], p. 12, 1943 (The Linda Hall)

And here is another, for the seventh image, which is more Seussian, because I borrowed the first two lines from Horton.  Ann is narrating in both verses:

I mean what I say

and I said what I meant

If only you'd kept me

Outside of your tent.

I am sure many of you can do better at capturing Dr. Seuss’s inimitable style.  Feel free to send me any Seussian verses you come up with describing Ann’s activities.

Colophon, This is Ann, [by Theodor Seuss Geisel and Munro Leaf], p. 34, 1943 (The Linda Hall)

Our final image shows the colophon, the last page of This is Ann, so you can see that the only one credited for the booklet was General George Marshall, although I doubt that he included it in his resumé.  The front cover (third image) has the stamp of the University of Kansas City and an acquisition date of Sep. 23, 1943.  The Linda Hall Library did not open until 1945, and when it did, UKC (now UMKC) passed on this treasure to us for safekeeping. The penciled-in number at the top is a Government Documents call number; the “W” at the beginning standing for “War Department.”  We do not keep many Government Documents in our Special Collections; for Dr. Seuss, we make an exception.

William B. Ashworth, Jr., Consultant for the History of Science, Linda Hall Library and Associate Professor emeritus, Department of History, University of Missouri-Kansas City. Comments or corrections are welcome; please direct to ashworthw@umkc.edu.