Oh, the Places You'll Go!

The story begins with the narrator, relating the decision of the unnamed protagonist (who represents the reader) to leave town. The protagonist travels through several geometrical and polychromatic landscapes and places, eventually encountering a place simply called "The Waiting Place", which is ominously addressed as being a place where everyone is always waiting for something to happen. As the protagonist continues to explore, spurred on by the thoughts of places he will visit and things he will discover, the book cheerfully concludes with an open ending.

Following its original release in 1990, Oh, the Places You'll Go! reached number one on The New York Times Best-Selling Fiction Hardcover list. This made Dr. Seuss one of the handful of authors to have number one Hardcover Fiction and Nonfiction books on the list; among them are John Steinbeck, Jimmy Buffett and Mitch Albom; his You're Only Old Once! hit number one on the Nonfiction list in 1986.

In the United States and Canada, Oh, the Places You'll Go! is a popular gift for students graduating from kindergarten through college, spiking in sales in the April-June period.[1][2] It reached number one on USA Today's Best Selling Book list in 1997, and reached #2 in 2015 and 2017.[3] Based on a 2007 online poll, the National Education Association listed the book as one of its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children."[4]

In the early 1990s, producers Ben Myron & Roland Joffé, at Lightmotive with TriStar Pictures, were set to produce a film adaptation of the book with Seuss penning the screenplay.[5] The Seuss screenplay was later rewritten by Richard LaGravenese and Barry Berman respectively, but the adaptation was never filmed.[6] A musical animated film adaptation of the book along with The Cat in the Hat and a spin-off Thing One and Thing Two are in development from Warner Animation Group. J. J. Abrams is producing the film alongside his production company Bad Robot Productions.[7]

In 2016, Star Trek writer David Gerrold partnered with artist Ty Templeton and comic label ComicMix to start a Kickstarter project for a Star Trek-based parody of Oh, the Places You'll Go! called Oh, the Places You'll Boldly Go! Dr. Seuss Enterprises, which manages the assets of Dr. Seuss's estate, sued to stop the Kickstarter, asserting the project violated the copyright of Oh the Places You'll Go! While the case was found in favor of the fair use defense given by the Kickstarter project at the District Court for the Southern District of California in 2019, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision in December 2020, finding that the Star Trek-based book was not parody as it copied too much of the book's original style and composition, only juxtaposing Star Trek characters in place of Seuss' original ones. Further, the Ninth Circuit argued that the timing of release could also impact the commercial value of Seuss' book, since the latter is typically given out as gifts for graduates.[8]