Beginner Books

Beginner Books is the Random House imprint for young children, co-founded by Phyllis Cerf with Ted Geisel, more often known as Dr. Seuss and his wife Helen Palmer Geisel.

Their first book was Dr. Seuss's The Cat in the Hat (1957). The rest of the series was modeled on the requirement Seuss set himself in writing that book: authors may only use words from a list of 379 words compiled by Cerf as the basic vocabulary for young readers, along with twenty more from a larger list of slightly harder words, and one "emergency word" of their choice.

With only four titles in their catalog in 1958, they were earning a million dollars a year two years later, making Random House the largest publisher of children's books in America.

Early contributors

Among authors of early Beginner Books are:

• Theodor Seuss Geisel, writing as Dr Seuss when he illustrated his own stories, and as Theo LeSieg or Rosetta Stone when others did.
• Robert M. Lopshire
• Bennett Cerf
• Al Perkins
• Helen Palmer Geisel, writing as Helen Palmer.
• P. D. Eastman (Philip Dey Eastman)
• Stan and Jan Berenstain
• Benjamin Elkin

Among illustrators of early Beginner Books are:

• Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel)
• Robert M. Lopshire
• Roy McKie
• P. D. Eastman
• Stan and Jan Berenstain

Complete Series of Random House's Beginner Books

ID	Title	Author	Illustrator
B- 1	The Cat in the Hat	Dr Seuss	Dr Seuss
B- 2	The Cat in the Hat Comes Back	Dr Seuss	Dr Seuss
B- 3	A Fly Went By	Mike McClintock	Fritz Siebel
B- 4	The Big Jump & Other Stories	Benjamin Elkin	Katherine Evans
B- 5	A Big Ball of String	Marion Holland
B- 6	Sam and the Firefly	P. D. Eastman	P. D. Eastman
B- 7	You Will Go To the Moon	Mae Blacker Freeman
B- 8	Cowboy Andy
B- 9	The Whales Go By	Fred B. Phleger
B-10	Stop That Ball!	Mike McClintock
B-11	Bennett Cerf's Book of Laughs	Bennet Cerf
B-12	Ann Can Fly
B-13	One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish	Dr Seuss	Dr Seuss
B-14	The King's Wish	Benjamin Elkin
B-15	Bennett Cerf's Book of Riddles
B-16	Green Eggs and Ham	Dr Seuss	Dr Seuss
B-17	Put Me in the Zoo	Robert Lopshire
B-18	Are You My Mother?	P. D. Eastman
B-19	Ten Apples Up On Top!	Theo Lesieg
B-20	Go, Dog, Go!	P. D. Eastman	P. D. Eastman
B-21	Little Black, A Pony	Walter Farley
B-22	Look Out For Pirates!
B-23	A Fish Out of Water	Helen Palmer	P. D. Eastman
B-24	Bennett Cerf's More Riddles
B-25	Robert the Rose Horse	Joan Heilbroner	P. D. Eastman
B-26	I Was Kissed by a Seal at the Zoo	Helen Palmer
B-27	Snow
B-28	The Big Honey Hunt
B-29	Hop On Pop	Dr Seuss
B-30	Dr. Seuss's ABC	Dr Seuss
B-31	Do You Know What I'm Going To Do Next Saturday?	Helen Palmer
B-32	Summer
B-33	Little Black Goes to the Circus
B-34	Bennett Cerf's Book of Animal Riddles
B-35	Why I Built the Boogle House	Helen Palmer
B-36	The Bike Lesson
B-37	The Beginner Book of Things To Make/How to Make Flibbers, etc
B-38	Fox in Socks	Dr. Seuss
B-39	The King, the Mice and the Cheese	Nancy Gurney
B-40	I Wish That I Had Duck Feet	Theo LeSieg
B-41	The Bears' Picnic	Stan Berenstain
B-42	Don and Donna Go To Bat	Al Perkins
B-43	You Will Live Under the Sea
B-44	Come Over To My House	Theo LeSieg
B-45	Babar Loses His Crown	Laurent de Brunhoff
B-46	The Bear Scouts	Stan Berenstain
B-47	The Digging-est Dog	Al Perkins
B-48	(Hugh Loftings') The Travels of Dr. Dolittle	Al Perkins
B-49	(Hugh Loftings') Doctor Dolittle and the Pirates	Al Perkins
B-50	Off To The Races	Fred B. Phleger
B-51	The Best Nest	P. D. Eastman
B-52	The Bears' Vacation
B-53	(Ian Flemings' Story of) Chitty Chitty Bang Bang! the Magical Car	Al Perkins
B-54	King Midas and the Golden Touch	Al Perkins
B-55	The Bear's Christmas
B-56	Tubby and the Lantern	Al Perkins
B-57	Tubby and the Poo-Bah	Al Perkins
B-58	My Amazing Book of Autographs!
B-59	Wacky Wednesday	Theo LeSieg
B-60	The Bear Detectives
B-61	Because a Little Bug Went Ko Choo!	Rosetta Stone
B-62	Oh, the Think You Can Think!	Dr Seuss
B-63	Please Try To Remember the First of Octember!	Theo LeSieg
B-64	I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!	Dr Seuss
B-65	Oh Say Can You Say?	Dr Seuss
B-66	The Missing Dinosaur Bone	Stan Berenstain
B-67	Maybe You Should Fly a Jet!	Theo LeSieg
B-68	It's Not Easy Being a Bunny	Marilyn Sadler
B-69	Spooky Riddles
B-70	What Do Smurfs Do All Day?
B-71	The Very Bad Bunny
B-72	I Want To Be Somebody New!
B-73	The Black Stallion
B-74	I Am Not Going To Get Up Today!	Dr Seuss
B-75	The Cat's Quizzer	Dr Seuss
B-76	Stop, Train, Stop!
B-77	New Tricks I Can Do!
B-78	Anthony The Perfect Monster
B-79	4 Pups and a Worm
B-80	Honey Bunny Funnybunny
B-81	Come Down Now, Flying Cow!
B-82	Can You Tell Me How To Get To Sesame Street?
B-83	Roast & Toast
B-84	Monster Munchies
B-85	Babe the Sheep Pig-A Little Pig Goes a Long Way
B-86	The Land Before Time
B-87	Riddles and More Riddles
B-88	Flap Your Wings	P. D. Eastman
B-89	That Stump Must Go!
B-90	Paws and Claws
B-91	A Crack In the Track
B-92	Big Dog....Little Dog	P. D. Eastman
B-93	Go, Train, Go!
B-94	Fred and Ted Go Camping
B-95	Mrs. Wow Never Wants a Cow
B-96	Fred and Ted Like to Fly
B-97	The Belly Book
B-98	Trains, Cranes and Troublesome Trucks

Beginner Books in the future

Random House has been announced that the two-volume Beginner Book Stories 7-in-1 by Dr. Seuss series will be released in bookstores and other retailers around November 6, 2008.

The following volumes in that series include:

VOLUME 1 - The Cat in the Hat and Other Beginner Book Stories

• The Cat in the Hat
• The Cat in the Hat Comes Back
• There's a Wocket in My Pocket
• Fox in Socks
• One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish
• Oh, the Thinks You Can Think
• The Foot Book

VOLUME 2 - Green Eggs and Ham and Other Beginner Book Stories

• Green Eggs and Ham
• Hop on Pop
• Oh Say Can You Say
• Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now
• Dr. Seuss's ABC
• I Can Read with My Eyes Shut
• Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can YOU?

External links

• List of the first 50 Beginner Books at Children's Picture Book Price Guide