Among the revelations to be found in Leonard Marcus’s new history of children’s literature, “Minders of Make-Believe,” is the fact that Theodor “Dr. Seuss” Geisel wasn’t just an endearingly whimsical author and illustrator. As a partner in Random House’s Beginner Books division, he was also a hands-on editor and a strict taskmaster.
Marcus describes Geisel’s first meeting with Stan and Jan Berenstain, who were pitching a story about a family of affable bears:
“Let’s talk about your rhymed verse,” Geisel had proposed. … “Your scansion is pretty good. But again, it’s too complicated. And your line lengths are all over the place. They won’t look good on the page. Try to even them up. Also, you’ve got a few interior rhymes. Let’s leave interior rhymes to Cole Porter and Ogden Nash.”
At the end of the meeting, Geisel “cheerfully showed the couple to the door” and told them: “Berenstains, I can’t tell you how happy I am to be working with you. I just know we’re going to get a wonderful book.”
Our review of “Minders of Make-Believe” will run on June 15.
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