Great Day for Up

Theodor Seuss Geisel – better known as Dr. Seuss – was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1904. After studying at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire and Oxford University, England, he became a magazine humorist, cartoonist and advertising man. He soon turned his many talents to writing children’s books, and his first book – And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street – was published in 1937. His greatest claim to fame was the one and only The Cat in the Hat, published in 1957, the first of a hugely successful range of early learning books.

Quentin Blake has been drawing ever since he can remember and has always made his living as an illustrator. He has also taught, and for eight years was Head of the Illustration department at the Royal College of Art. Quentin Blake was made an OBE in 1988 and, in the words of The Guardian, was “already a national institution” when he was appointed the first Children’s Laureate in 1999.