And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street

And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street

Author	Dr. Seuss
Illustrator	Dr. Seuss
Cover artist	Dr. Seuss
Language	English
Genre	Children's literature
Published	December 21, 1937 (renewed in 1964) Vanguard Press
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (hardcover), Beginner Books
Pages	32
OCLC	176642
Followed by	The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins

And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street is Theodor Seuss Geisel's first children's book published under the name Dr. Seuss. First published by Vanguard Press in 1937, the story follows a boy named Marco, who describes a parade of imaginary people and vehicles traveling along a road, Mulberry Street, in an elaborate fantasy story he dreams up to tell his father at the end of his walk. However, when he arrives home, he decides instead to tell his father what he actually saw—a simple horse and wagon.

Geisel conceived the core of the book aboard a ship in 1936, returning from a European vacation with his wife. The rhythm of the ship's engines captivated him and inspired the book's signature lines: "And that is a story that no one can beat. And to think that I saw on Mulberry Street."

At least 20 publishers rejected the book before Geisel ran into an old college classmate, who had just become juvenile editor at Vanguard Press. Vanguard agreed to publish the book, and it met with high praise from critics upon release, though sales were not as impressive. Later analyses of the book have focused on its connections to Geisel's childhood; the street of the title is probably named after a street in Geisel's hometown of Springfield, Massachusetts. Geisel returned to fictionalized versions of Springfield in later books, and Marco appeared again in 1947 in the Dr. Seuss book McElligot's Pool.

In March 2021, the Seuss Estate removed the book from publication due to images in the book that the estate deemed "hurtful and wrong".^[1]