And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street

And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street
12/21/1937 AD published

Hearing of its release, neighbors of Geisel's in Springfield were at first worried the book would be an exposé of the people there. Sales were lackluster, but early reviews were glowing.

Clifton Fadiman wrote a one-sentence review in The New Yorker, which Geisel could still quote near the end of his life: "They say it's for children, but better get a copy for yourself and marvel at the good Dr. Seuss' impossible pictures and the moral tale of the little boy who exaggerated not wisely but too well."

The New York Times wrote, "Highly original and entertaining, Dr Seuss' picture book partakes of the better qualities of those peculiarly America institutions, the funny papers and the tall tale. It is a masterly interpretation of the mind of a child in the act of creating one of those stories with which children often amuse themselves and bolster up their self-respect."

Anne Carroll Moore, then in charge of the children's section at the New York Public Library, wrote an enthusiastic review in the Atlantic Monthly and invited Geisel to speak at the library. In her review she called the book "so completely spontaneous that the American child can take it to his heart on sight", and "as original in conception, as spontaneous in the rendering as it is true to the imagination of a small boy."

Moore sent a copy of the book to English children's author Beatrix Potter, who wrote back, "What an amusing picture book ... I think it the cleverest book I have met with for many years. The swing and merriment of the pictures and the natural truthful simplicity of the untruthfulness ... Too many story books for children are condescending, self-conscious inventions—and then some trivial oversight, some small incorrect detail gives the whole show away. Dr. Seuss does it thoroughly!"

Geisel himself was later critical of the book, saying on its 25th anniversary, "I think I was a little aloof, too outside there. It was written from the point of view of my mind, not the mind of a child."

Springfield, MA

Lattitude: 42.1013° N
Longitude: 72.5902° W
Region: North America

Modern Day United States

Events in 1937 MORE