How long-lost Dr. Seuss book released today was discovered

Among Theodor Seuss Geisel’s things set aside by his widow after his death was an unknown manuscript that would become a book being published posthumously today under his pen name, Dr. Seuss. The classic children’s author died on Sept. 24, 1991, at the age of 87. At the time, his widow, Audrey Geisel, was renovating their home in La Jolla, Calif., outside San Diego, and placed some of his work in a box. In 2013, she and his longtime assistant, Claudia Prescott, decided to have the drafts and sketches in the box appraised and discovered a project that would become his 46th book.

Pages and pages of manuscripts and sketches were laid out on the big glass dining room table. It was truly a magical moment, and we immediately knew this was more than just a box of sketches.

Susan Brandt, president of licensing and marketing for Dr. Seuss Enterprises, LP

“What Pet Should I Get?” follows Dr. Seuss best-sellers such as “Green Eggs and Ham” and “The Lorax.” His first major success was “The Cat in the Hat,” published in 1937. His final book before his death, “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” was published in 1990. Audrey Geisel, 93, called the discovery of what would become the new book “undeniably special” but not surprising. She runs Dr. Seuss Enterprises with the help of Prescott, who began assisting the author in 1972. The main characters in “What Pet Should I Get?” resemble the boy and girl in “One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish.” In February, Random House announced plans to publish “What Pet Should I Get?” and two more upcoming titles by Seuss.

Arts Dr. Seuss