The Cat in the Hat book's title character in the tradition of con artists in American art, including the title characters from Meredith Willson's "The Music Man" and L. Frank Baum's "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz". Nel also contends that Geisel identified with the Cat, pointing to a self portrait of Geisel in which he appears as the Cat, which was published alongside a profile about him in "The Saturday Evening Post" on July 6, 1957. Michael K. Frith, who worked as Geisel's editor, concurs, arguing that "The Cat in the Hat and Ted Geisel were inseparable and the same. I think there's no question
The Cat in the Hat going to have the exciting experience of learning that they "can" read after all." Polly Goodwin of the "Chicago Sunday Tribune" predicted that "The Cat in the Hat" would cause seven- and eight-year-olds to "look with distinct distaste on the drab adventures of standard primer characters". Both Helen E. Walker of "Library Journal" and Emily Maxwell of "The New Yorker" felt that the book would appeal to older children as well as to its target audience of first- and second-graders. The reviewer for "The Bookmark" concurred, writing, "Recommended enthusiastically as a picture book as well as a reader". In contrast,