Famous Book by Dr. Seuss about Christmas Gets a New Version

Famous Book by Dr. Seuss about Christmas Gets a New Version¹

The famous children's book, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, by the writer known as Dr. Seuss, will get a follow-up story, or sequel, later this year.

The new book is likely to be called How the Grinch Lost Christmas and will be released² in September.

It was not written by Dr. Seuss, whose real name was Theodor Geisel. The famous writer of children's books died in 1991 at the age of 87.

Instead, it will be written by Alastair Heim, an author who has worked on other books in the Dr. Seuss "universe."

The person who draws the pictures to go along with the story is called an illustrator. For the new book, the illustrator is Aristides Ruiz. He worked on a series of books based on Dr. Seuss's The Cat in the Hat for about 20 years.

Heim wrote a message to the Associated Press about the chance to work on a story created by the famous author.

"All throughout writing the story, I couldn't fully³ believe that I was actually getting to play in the amazing creative sandbox Dr. Seuss created all those decades ago," Heim wrote in an email.

Ruiz called the job of working on the new book "difficult and daunting⁴," because it is such a big part of the Christmas tradition in the U.S.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas came out in 1957 and sold 10 million copies in North America alone. It has been translated into many languages. There was a television version and two movie versions⁵, all with famous actors playing the character or performing the voice of the Grinch.

The new book will come out in September.

In the first book, the Grinch tries to ruin Christmas for all the people who live in Who-ville by stealing their presents and decorations. In the end, he discovers the holiday is not about gifts and large meals but spending time with family and friends.

In the new book, the Grinch wants to win an award for decorating a large Christmas tree. He gets caught up in the competition until he learns from Cindy-Lou Who that Christmas is not all about winning.

Geisel created many books, including The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham.

Some of his books are no longer published. They have been described by critics as racist⁶ because they do not like the images in them. But his work is still popular. The magazine Forbes ranks Geisel as one of the wealthiest dead people. That means the organization that oversees⁷ his works⁸ still makes a lot of money.

Words in This Story

author –n. a person who writes books

sandbox –n. an area or container filled with sand where a child plays with toys

daunting –adj. difficult or worrisome

translate –v. to change written work from one language to another

character –n. a person in a story

present –n. a gift

decoration –n. something created to make a building or room look nice for a celebration, such as balloons, lights or ribbons

1 version   

n.版本；型号；叙述，说法

参考例句：

• His version of the events is pure supposition.他对这件事的说法纯属猜测。
• What is your version of this matter?你对这件事情的看法 怎么样？

2 released   

v.释放( release的过去式和过去分词 )；放开；发布；发行

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• With hindsight it is easy to say they should not have released him. 事后才说他们本不应该释放他，这倒容易。

3 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

4 daunting   

adj.使人畏缩的

参考例句：

• They were faced with the daunting task of restoring the house.他们面临着修复房子的艰巨任务。
• Starting a new job can be a daunting prospect.开始一项新工作有时会让人望而却步。

5 versions   

n.译本( version的名词复数 )；版本；（个人对事件的）描述；（原物的）变体

参考例句：

• There are two versions of the game, a long one and a short one. 这游戏有两个版本，一长一短。
• When both versions of the story were collated,major discrepancies were found. 在将这个故事的两个版本对照后，找出了主要的不符之处。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

7 oversees   

v.监督，监视( oversee的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网

8 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。