Dr. Seuss Characters: Are You a Whiz at this Quiz?
Written by Tom Cohen
Last updated · 8 min play time
Very few in history have captured the imagination of kids like the rhyming whiz, Dr. Seuss. From The Lorax to Green Eggs and Ham to The Cat in the Hat, when it comes to kids' books, Theodor Geisel is where it's at. Let's see how much you know about Dr. Seuss!
Dr. Seuss was a genius. His rhymes, his characters, his way of capturing the imagination of kids, both big and small, are unparalleled. The people, creatures and personalities that populate his books stand the test of time. You've got the Lorax, The Cat in the Hat, Horton, all with their own personalities and colorful, larger-than-life antics.
In this quiz, we'll test your knowledge of the wonderful, cartoonish world of Dr. Seuss to see how much you know about the magic of Theodor Geisel's brain. Get ready for some question digestion and dissection!
Quiz written by
Tom CohenI'm a 3-time Emmy-winning game show producer, writer, director and published author. I dig traveling, watching hockey, photographing wildlife and exploring the cultural and social fabric of society.
Dr. Seuss Characters Quiz Questions
20 Questions · 292 Plays · No comments
Question 1
In the book all about him, this guy says "I would eat them in a boat. And I would eat them with a goat." Name this colorful character.
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ABartholomew Cubbins
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BHorton
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CSam-I-Am
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DMarvin K. Mooney
Sam-I-Am
Sam-I-Am is the rhyming protagonist of <i>Green Eggs and Ham</i>, and in the book he pesters an unnamed character to eat the titular dish. Published in 1960, it appeared at number 4 on Publishers Weekly’s 2001 list of all-time best-selling children’s books.
Question 2
With the title character as his owner, what is the name of the dog from How the Grinch Stole Christmas?
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ARex
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BMax
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CTed
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DHenry
Max
Max the dog in <i>How the Grinch Stole Christmas</i> is much more prominent in the movie version of the book, rather than the book itself. His two lines in the movie are "Yipe!" and "Raaaahhh!"
Question 3
In The Cat in the Hat, what is the name of the girl who, along with her unnamed brother, opens her house to the mischievous titular feline?
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ASusie
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BSally
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CSandy
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DSarah
Sally
Sally and her brother are the girl and boy in the book. When they made the movie in 2003, they named the boy Conrad and gave them the last name Walden. Geisel allegedly wrote the book as a response to the issue of literacy in early childhood, and the limitations of the "Dick and Jane" series of books.
Question 4
"A person's a person, no matter how small." So true. Which of Dr. Seuss's characters comes to this realization in the book about him?
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AThe Lorax
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BThe Grinch
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CHorton
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DConrad Cornelius o’Donald o’Dell
Horton
In <i>Horton Hears a Who</i>, Horton saves Whoville, a tiny planet located on a small speck of dust, from being incinerated. Along the way, he learns to appreciate the minuscule creatures on Whoville. <i>Horton Hears a Who</i> was published in 1954.
Question 5
With possibly the most generic names all of Dr. Seuss's characters, Mr. Brown and Mr. Black appear in which of his books?
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AGreen Eggs and Ham
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BThe Cat in the Hat Comes Back
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CHop on Pop
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DHorton Hears a Who
Hop on Pop
In <i>Hop on Pop</i>, Mr. Brown appears with his wife, Mrs Brown, balancing on his top hat. When Mr. Brown flies up on a seesaw, he disappears and comes back with Mr. Black, who he must have met in town or somewhere. Sure, it all makes sense.
Question 6
One of Seuss's angrier characters, who says "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not."?
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AThe Lorax
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BFoo Foo the Snoo
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CThe Grinch
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DZable
The Lorax
The Lorax is a Dr. Seuss character who "speaks for the trees". In his book, he tries to prevent the Once-ler from cutting down Truffula Trees (thought to be inspired by the majestic Monterey cypress trees of the Central California coast) and protect the overall environment.
Question 7
In what amounts to a sequel to the 1938 book in which he had 500 hats, who must rescue his kingdom from a sticky green substance called Oobleck?
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ACarlos K. Krinklebein
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BBenjamin B. Bicklebaum
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CHarry Haddow
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DBartholomew Cubbins
Bartholomew Cubbins
In the book <i>Bartholomew and the Oobleck</i>, the title character needs to rescue his kingdom from a sticky green substance called "oobleck," a non-Newtonian substance that can change its viscosity. Unlike Seuss's other, more popular books, <i>Bartholomew and the Oobleck</i> is written in prose.
Question 8
From Fox in Socks, what is the name of this human-like character who is annoyed by Fox's babbling tongue-twisters?
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AVictor V. Vox
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BBartholomew Blocks
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CMr. Cox
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DMr. Knox
Mr. Knox
Officially known as Mr. Box Knox in Box, Mr. Knox is a character from both <i>Fox in Socks</i> and <i>The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss</i> . He wears a yellow jumper. and has an orange box he likes to be in at times, hence his name. In <i>Fox in Socks</i>, he's annoyed by Fox's tongue-twisting words until the end when he finally catches on.
Question 9
This Dr. Seuss character is none other than Yertle the Turtle. In his book, what does Yertle order the other turtles to do?
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ACut down the trees
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BDrain the pond
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CMake a tall tower
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DFly a plane
Make a tall tower
<i>Yertle the Turtle</i> revolves a turtle who is the self-proclaimed king of the pond. But he's unhappy because he only has a stone as a throne, so he commands the other turtles to stack themselves up so he can see farther and expand his kingdom, no matter how much pain the turtles below him feel.
Question 10
One of Dr. Seuss's most memorable characters is Thidwick, who says "This bird...is sort of a pest! But I'm a good sport, so I'll just let him rest, For a host, above all, must be nice to his guest." What was Thidwick?
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AAn alligator
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BA monkey
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CA lion
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DA moose
A moose
The book <i>Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose</i> was published in 1948, and is about a moose "in a herd numbering approximately sixty who subsist mainly on moose-moss and live on the northern shore of Lake Winna-Bango." Thidwick has a big heart and lets animals like a small bug and a bird ride on his antlers for free.
Question 11
In the Dr. Seuss classic One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, what does Mr. Gump own?
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AAn Eight-Hump Schlump
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BAn Old Tree Stump
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CA Seven-Hump Wump
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DA Six-Hump Frump
A Seven-Hump Wump
From the book: "Bump! Bump! Bump! Did you ever ride a Wump? We have a Wump with just one hump. But we know a man called Mr. Gump. Mr. Gump has a Seven-Hump Wump. So...If you like to go Bump! Bump! Just jump on the hump of the Wump of Gump."
Question 12
In which Dr. Seuss book does a boy named Morris McGurk find a useless vacant lot behind a store owned by a character named Mr. Sneelock?
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AIf I Ran the Circus
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BOh the Places You'll Go!
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CI Am Not Going to Get Up Today!
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DThere's a Wocket in my Pocket!
If I Ran the Circus
In <i>If I Ran the Circus</i> is about a boy named Morris McGurk who is convinced that if he was just able to clear out all the debris and messiness behind Mr. Sneelock's little shop, he could open up an amazing circus on the property. In typical Seuss fashion, his imagination runs wild.
Question 13
Which Dr. Seuss character does the narrator implore to leave, saying "You can go by foot, You can go by cow"?
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AGerald McGrew
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BVlad Vlad-i-Koff
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CGertrude McFuzz
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DMarvin K. Mooney
Marvin K. Mooney
In the book <i>Marvin K. Mooney, Will You Please Go Now!</i>, the narrator implores Marvin K. Mooney to leave with phrases like "You can go on skates, you can go on skis. You can go in a hat. But please, go please!" Spoiler alert; eventually he leaves.
Question 14
Let's start with arguably the Dr.'s most beloved book, The Cat in The Hat. What is the first line of Dr. Seuss's 1957 masterpiece?
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AThe door was ajar
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BThe sun did not shine
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CWe were all in the house
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DThe rain wouldn't stop
The sun did not shine
The book starts with the lines "The sun did not shine, it was too wet to play, so we sat in the house all that cold, cold wet day." <i>The Cat in The Hat</i> has sold more than 16 million copies in multiple editions, making it one of the best-selling children's books of all-time.
Question 15
And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street was Dr. Seuss's first children's book, published in 1937. What's the name of the boy in the book who describes a parade of imaginary people and vehicles along Mulberry Street?
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AMarco
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BMatthew
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CMichael
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DManuel
Marco
Dr. Seuss's first book, <i>And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street</i> was rejected by 20 publishers before a friend at Vanguard Press agreed to publish it. Later it was revealed that the street in the title of the book is most likely a reference to a street in his hometown of Springfield, Massachusetts.
Question 16
A story from the book The Sneetches and Other Stories features The Zax, one South-going and the other North-going. Where are the Zaxes from?
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AThe Lakes of Lax
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BThe Prairie of Prax
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CThe Fields of Flax
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DThe Plains of Plax
The Prairie of Prax
As the story goes, when the two Zaxes meet, they are immediately at an impasse: "One day, making tracks, In the prairie of Prax, Came a North-Going Zax, And a South-Going Zax. And it happened that both of them came to a place, Where they bumped. There they stood. Foot to foot. Face to face."
Question 17
This Dr. Seuss character comes in two varieties: Russian and Toucan. What is the name of this quirky character?
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AFiffer-feffer-feff
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BPalooski
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CGwark
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DJibboo
Palooski
Palooskis are featured in <i>Horton Hears a Who!</i> and <i>If I Ran a Zoo</i>. With a different coloration than their flying cousins, the Russian Palooski is the only one that can survive the winter, since the other types are tropical birds.
Question 18
In one of Dr. Seuss's later books, what do the characters named the Yooks and the Zooks do differently?
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AJump rope
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BCook their eggs
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CEat bread
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DWalk their dogs
Eat bread
In the anti-war parable <i>The Butter Battle Book</i>, the Yooks and the Zooks live on opposite sides of a long curving wall, with the Yooks dressed in blue and the Zooks dressed in orange. They can't get along because the Yooks eat their bread with the butter-side up, while the Zooks eat it with the butter-side down. Can't we all just get along?
Question 19
What cable news journalist has a segment on his show named after the characters Thing 1 and Thing 2 from The Cat in the Hat?
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AChris Cuomo
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BAnderson Cooper
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CChris Hayes
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DTucker Carlson
Chris Hayes
<i>All in with Chris Hayes</i> airs at 8:00 p.m. ET on MSNBC and debuted on April 1, 2013. Obviously a fan of Dr. Seuss, Hayes started doing a segment called Thing 1 and Thing 2 where he discusses an unusual or strange event that occurred in politics.
Question 20
From the county of Keck, Van Vleck is a "very small bug" that opens which of Dr. Seuss's books?
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AThe Foot Book
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BWhat Pet Should I Get?
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CThe Sleep Book
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DOh the Thinks You Can Think!
The Sleep Book
<i>The Sleep Book</i> start with a small bug, named Van Vleck, yawning. “The news just came in from the County of Keck, That a very small bug by the name of Van Vleck, Is yawning so wide you can look down his neck." As the book unfolds, Van Vleck's yawn leads to a chain reaction of yawns, putting “ninety-nine zillion nine trillion and two” creatures to sleep.
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