Dr. Seuss

A wildly imaginative illustrator and author, Dr. Seuss is easily the most beloved figure in American children's literature. As a young man, he found success in advertising and eventually moved on to books, unveiling his kid-centric debut, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, in 1937. His 1940 story, the elephant-starring tale Horton Hatches the Egg, became a "Merrie Melodies" (Warner Bros., 1931-1969) animated short two years later, marking the first of many times that his work would get translated to the screen. After World War II, Seuss tackled kid-oriented fare with verve, even releasing two of his most famous books, The Cat in the Hat and How the Grinch Stole Christmas! within months during 1957. The latter became a perennially popular 1966 animated TV special, and various Seuss adaptations followed, even as he continued to publish new stories. About a decade after Seuss' death in 1991, a number of big-budget feature-film versions of his books began to surface, leading to a revival of sorts, though his oddly clever narratives have never truly gone out of style.