Imagine That! How Dr. Seuss Wrote The Cat in the Hat

“1954 was a great year to be a kid, unless you were trying to learn how to read,” quips Sierra in this look at how Theodor Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss, endeavored to create a beginning reader “so exciting that [children] couldn’t stop turning the pages.” It took Geisel more than a year to get The Cat in the Hat just right; although Sierra writes mostly in prose, she occasionally slips into Seussian rhyme, as if to channel the pieces coming together in Geisel’s mind. Amid representational portraits of Geisel, Hawkes dives headlong into the wooly world of the books he created, blending imagination and reality—in one scene, Geisel walks up a swoopy staircase to his studio, trailed by furry and feathery nonsense creatures. It’s an engrossing and amusing glimpse of creativity in action and the making of a children’s book classic. Ages 3–7. (Sept.)