Oh, the Places You’ll Go! occupies a unique space in popular culture. With over 12 million copies sold, it is the top-selling book in Seuss’s catalog, surpassing other perennial classics like The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham. Oh, the Places You’ll Go can attribute much of its commercial success to its stature as a quintessential graduation gift.
Since its publication in 1990, Oh the Places You’ll Go! reappears on the bestseller list nearly every spring. In 2018, the book sold nearly 800,000 copies, and it is regularly featured in gift guides for high school or college graduates. Oh, The Places You’ll Go! even has its own “deluxe edition” (including a bookplate and Seuss-written commencement speech) and graduation gift set. Indeed, the book is as inextricable from the graduation season as fireworks are from the Fourth of July.
The book’s enduring status as a go-to graduation gift is rooted in Seuss’s popularity and the book’s optimistic worldview toward the future. For starters, Seuss represents a powerhouse in the world of young people's literature; millions of children learned how to read through the catchy phonics, memorable rhymes, vibrant illustrations, and whimsical settings of his works. Gifting a Seuss book to an adolescent or adult graduate thus serves as a celebration of their growth and a nostalgic, wistful reminder of their childhood.
Additionally, the book’s encouraging and cheerful view on universal subject matter—the unpredictability of life, the importance of progression and initiative, and the inevitability of failure—makes the book a natural, fitting gift for anyone transitioning into a new phase of their life. Triumphant declarations fill the book, from “KID, YOU’LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!” to “You’ll be famous as famous can be, / with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.”
Penguin Random House Senior Vice President Mallory Loehr aptly likens Oh, the Places You’ll Go! to a self-help book, stating, “People forget that it has pages that really acknowledge that things will be tough sometimes...Sit down; read this book. It will be OK.” More than anything, the book powerfully reminds us that everything will "be OKAY"—a sentiment that can benefit anyone, not just recent graduates.
