The Cat in the Hat Heloise P. Mailloux wrote in "The Horn Book Magazine", "This is a fine book for remedial purposes, but self-conscious children often refuse material if its seems meant for younger children." She felt that the book's limited vocabulary kept it from reaching "the absurd excellence of early Seuss books". Based on a 2007 online poll, the National Education Association named "The Cat in the Hat" one of its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children". In 2012 it was ranked number 36 among the "Top 100 Picture Books" in a survey published by "School Library Journal" – the third of five Dr.
The Cat in the Hat education division at Houghton Mifflin. However, because Geisel was already under contract with Random House, the two publishers agreed to a deal: Houghton Mifflin published the education edition, which was sold to schools, and Random House published the trade edition, which was sold in bookstores. Geisel gave varying accounts of how he created "The Cat in the Hat", but in the version he told most often he was so frustrated with the word list from which he could choose words to write his story that he decided to scan the list and create a story based on the first two