When editors from Random House Children’s Books visited the Dr. Seuss collection at UC San Diego’s main library in May, they were looking for something special: a work that could tie in with America’s upcoming 250th birthday.
Among the thousands of sketches and other archival materials stored on the Geisel Library’s second floor, they found a manuscript by Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, that sought to teach readers how to learn all 50 state names.
It included a cover sketch featuring the Cat in the Hat and notes on art direction for a never-finished project.
On June 2, “Sing the 50 United States!” will be released, with a first printing of 500,000 copies.
The book will include illustrations done by artist Tom Brannon “in the style of Dr. Seuss,” as well as a publisher’s note explaining how the project evolved and showing archival images of text and sketches by Geisel, according to a press release by Random House Children’s Books and Dr. Seuss Enterprises, which manages the literary and artistic works of Dr. Seuss. Geisel lived in La Jolla until his death in 1991.
“In this never-before-seen picture book featuring Dr. Seuss’s signature rhyming style, readers will delight in naming the 50 states alongside the beloved Cat in the Hat!” the publisher said in the release. Underneath the book’s jacket will be a map of the United States, which the publisher said would be “perfect for readers to test their own state-naming skills.”
“To sing the 50 United States, you have to use your brain,” the Cat in the Hat advises. “Massachusetts. Minnesota. Missouri and Montana. M-i-s-s-Mississippi. Maryland! Michigan and Maine!”
Lynda Claassen, director of Special Collections & Archives, has known a new Dr. Seuss book was in the works since the spring. That’s when longtime Seuss editors asked library staff to pull the manuscript, and they “got very excited about it,” she recalled.
The library produced high-resolution scans from the collection to assist in the project. Claassen described Geisel’s manuscript as “basically the names of the states and in which order you’re going to sing them — and whether it was going to be Alabama first, or Arkansas first, or whatever,” adding, “You can see in various drafts, him moving names of states around.”
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Dr. Seuss Enterprises said it plans to release a music video for the Dr. Seuss YouTube channel featuring the song.
“Uncovering a new work from Ted is like finding a time capsule of his imagination,” Susan Brandt, president and CEO of Dr. Seuss Enterprises, said in a statement. “‘Sing the 50 United States!’ celebrates his boundless creativity, genius with words, and enduring ability to inspire young readers everywhere.”
Deputy publisher Judith Haul of Random House Children’s Books said finding an original Dr. Seuss story is “something we dream of.”
Geisel was the author and illustrator of dozens of children’s books, including some of the most popular and influential ever, including “The Cat in the Hat” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” His works have sold more than 650 million copies worldwide.
One Seuss scholar believes the new book grew out of a song Geisel discarded before publishing “The Cat in the Hat Songbook” in 1967.
Philip Nel, a university distinguished professor of children’s literature at Kansas State University, said the format of some illustrations shared online this week by the publisher was similar to Geisel’s songbook, which featured 19 songs.
“It looks like a cut song from ‘The Cat in the Hat Songbook’ that he was considering expanding into a full book, based on what I’ve seen from their news release,” Nel said. “It looks like it was a complete song, not a complete book as such.”
Nel, who has written books and taught courses on Seuss, has gone through material in the UCSD archives many times. He said there are other unpublished works in the collection that are “worthy of seeing the light of day.”
“He did a lot of work, and he didn’t finish everything,” he said of Geisel, who died at the age of 87.
Random House Children’s Books and Dr. Seuss Enterprises called “Sing the 50 United States!” the first full manuscript written by Dr. Seuss to be discovered since the posthumous release of “What Pet Should I Get?” in 2015.
Nel pointed out that there have been several Dr. Seuss works published posthumously, including “Daisy-Head Mayzie” in 1995, which included illustrations by Joe Mathieu adapted from an animated film and later reissued with illustrations based on Geisel’s original drawings. That was followed by “Hooray for Diffendoofer Day,” published in 1996, which is credited on its cover to Dr. Seuss, “with some help from Jack Prelutsky and illustrated by Lane Smith.” Other books followed.
“They took an unfinished Seuss book and collectively wrote a new Seuss book,” Nel said of the 1996 book. “It is lovely. It is wonderful. And I would love to see Dr. Seuss Enterprises take that approach with future books. Make it a collaboration in which each artist or writer brings their unique talents to the project. I think that’s where art comes from.”
Nel said he has no doubt a new Dr. Seuss book will sell well, but he wishes the book’s cover “made it a little more explicit” that it was produced with collaborators.
The Dr. Seuss Collection at UC San Diego contains materials Geisel had kept in his La Jolla home and includes about 20,000 sketches, photographs of Geisel on his book tours, notebooks and other unpublished works. Claassen said items are catalogued, and researchers and others can use an online tool to search the material. Those with “a research need” can make an appointment to request to view items.
Because of Seuss’ popularity, the library also maintains a rotating exhibit of Seuss items in exhibit cases in the library. “A lot of tourists come because they think we are the Seuss museum,” she said.