These are recurring characters in the books by Dr. Seuss. For characters belonging to a specific book, look at the TV Tropes pages for the particular book.
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The Cat in the Hat
Look at me, look at me, look at me now! It is fun to be on TV Tropes, but you have to know how.
Perhaps Dr. Seuss's most famous character, the Cat in the Hat is an anthropomorphic cat who wears a candy-striped hat and is a real goofball, liking to cause chaos but always cleaning up afterwards. He features in The Cat in the Hat, The Cat In The Hat Comes Back, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut, The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat, The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!, and I Can Lick 30 Tigers Today.- Abandoned Catchphrase: In The Cat in the Hat, he says, "Look at me now" and "I'll show you another great trick that I know" a lot, but in later books, he doesn't say them.
- Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Wears only a bow tie and a hat.
- Animals Not to Scale: A human-sized (six feet tall according to Living Books and the live-action film) cat.
- Bookworm: "I Can Read with My Eyes Shut" reveals that he loves to read.
- Breakout Character: The success of his book has made him this for Dr. Seuss as a whole, going on to make numerous appearances in other books beyond his own and become the mascot of the Dr. Seuss brand.
- Cloud Cuckoolander: He's very goofy. This is the guy whose idea of fun is eating cake in the tub and balancing a goldfish bowl.
- Funny Animal: An anthropomorphic cat.
- Fun Personified: A cat that loves providing fun with everyone.
- Furry Reminder:
- In the live-action movie, he coughs up a hairball.
- In The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!, the episode on big cats reveals that he can walk silently just like a normal cat.In spite of my hat, I am a cat.
- In his Living Book, he says, "Meow" at one point.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He may create messes, but he always cleans them up.
- Omniglot: Zigzagged. In the cartoon, he translates his name into French, Spanish, German, and Irish, but he also makes up some languages called "Eskimo" and "boogoo-googoo", claims to be a "*honk* in a *honk, honk, honk*" in Scottish Gaelic and a "yodel-yodel-yodel in a yodel-ay-hee-hoo!" in Swiss, and needs help translating his name into Russian and Dutch.
- Person with the Clothing: His name is not revealed, it's just "The Cat in the Hat".
- Race-Name Basis: When people are addressing him, they usually just call him "Cat".
- Took a Level in Kindness: While he does still retain a bit of a mischievous streak, he becomes a far more pleasant and less troublemaking individual after his original books.
The Grinch
With this coat, and this hat! I'll look just like Saint Nick.
Another famous character, who features in How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, "The Hoobub and the Grinch", and The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat.- Adaptational Comic Relief: Of the Adaptation Personality Change category. In the How the Grinch Stole Christmas book and animated short, he was serious-minded, antipathetic, resentful, and a scheming Who that happily and cunningly attempts at ruining Christmas. But in the live-action movie, he's an hammy, Laughably Evil Anti-Villain who is sociopathic.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: In the first How the Grinch Stole Christmas book, his fur is black and white, but later copies and all other stories with him in them have it green.
- Adaptation Species Change: In the original book version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the Grinch was a Who like everyone else, and only his red eyes and bad-tempered disposition distinguished him from other Whos. The animated version gave him green fur that has been a staple of his character ever since, effectively retconning him into belonging to a different race altogether; "Grinch" went from a personal moniker to the name of his species, and Fantastic Racism is sometimes implied to have played a role in his outlook on life.
- Adaptational Backstory Change: In the book, nobody knows why the Grinch hates Christmas, but in the live-action movie, it's because the mayor of Whoville gave him a shaver for Christmas to make fun of him shaving his fur to impress his crush.
- Ambiguous Situation: In the book, it's unknown why he hates Christmas and the narrator suggests three possibilities: his head isn't screwed on properly, his heart is two sizes too small (which they believe to be the likeliest reason) or his shoes are too tight. "The Hoobub and the Grinch" and The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat suggest that it's simply a species thing, whereas the live-action movie implies that it's because he had problems in his youth.
- A Dog Named "Dog": According to "The Hoobub and the Grinch", Grinch is his species.
- Good Eyes, Evil Eyes: As a grouch with his heart too small, the Grinch's eyes have red irises and yellow sciera. When his heart grows and he makes his Heel–Face Turn, his sciera turns white and his irises blue.
- The Grinch: The trope namer; he "hated Christmas, the whole Christmas season". In the live-action movie, he refers to himself as 'The Grinch' when he meets Cindy Lou Who.
- Heel–Face Turn: He starts out bad and wanting the Whos to suffer, but then he turns good when the Whos are happy and gives their presents back.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: In The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat, he's a nice guy deep down but acts rude because that's what Grinches do.
- Meaningful Name: His name implies that he is a person who is mean-spirited and unfriendly, and it also describes a grumpy person who is a killjoy that spoils the pleasure of others. This also means that a grinch is a person who does not like other people celebrating or enjoying themselves, especially a person who does not like Christmas.
- My Species Doth Protest Too Much:
- Zigzagged. "The Hoobub and the Grinch" and The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat imply that Grinches are all mean and when he stops being mean after How the Grinch Stole Christmas, he was an exception, but The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat also implies that his mother was nice.
- This is inverted in the original How the Grinch Stole Christmas book, where the Grinch is a Who like his neighbors and not part of a different species; whereas most Whos are cheerful, friendly, and optimistic, the Grinch is a grumpy, antisocial loner who feels so alienated from his own kind that he tries to ruin their holiday.
- Redemption Promotion: He was an ordinary person as a grump when trying to steal Christmas and ruin the Whos' lives. But when his heart grew three sizes, he found the compassion gave him the strength of ten Grinches plus two, showing a Heel–Face Turn.
- Your Size May Vary: In How the Grinch Stole Christmas, he's the size of a Who (who are microscopic), but in The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat, he's human-sized.
Horton
- Adaptation Personality Change: He's goofier in the movie.
- Cloudcuckoolander: In the movie, he's notably goofy and likes to play silly games.
- Honorable Elephant: Even when he really should have realized he was being taken advantage of.
- Mad Libs Catchphrase: In Horton Hatches the Egg and the movie version of Horton Hears a Who, his catchphrase is "I meant what I said and I said what I meant, and [fill in the blank] 100%" (usually "an elephant's faithful").
- Nice Guy: He is very civil and is never mean to anyone, even if they were mean to him.
- Talking Animal: He can talk, but he walks on all fours and acts like a normal elephant.
- Undying Loyalty: He'll do whatever he can to do the right thing, even if it means pain or misery or Sleep Deprivation for him, because "an elephant's faithful one hundred percent". Truth in Television as according to animal experts, elephants really are faithful.
Jojo
The son of the Mayor of Whoville, who appears in Horton Hears a Who and his name is seen written on a present in How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: In the book, he seems contented, but in the movie, he doesn't want to speak to his dad because he doesn't want to be mayor.
- Adaptational Dye-Job: In the book, his clothes are blue, but in the movie, they're black and grey.
- Adaptational Intelligence: In the book, he was somewhat dim-witted and was bouncing a yoyo despite his world being under threat and didn't get it together until he was told, but in the movie, he recognises the danger and builds a complicated noise-making device.
- Adaptational Skill: In the movie, he shows the ability to invent machines and play music.
- Dissonant Serenity: In the book, he is simply standing there bouncing a yoyo while his world is under threat.
- Gadgeteer Genius: In the movie, he creates an elaborate noise-making machine.
- Named by the Adaptation: Downplayed. In the book he has No Full Name Given, but in the movie, his last name is McDodd.
- Neologism: His word to make everyone hear the Whos is "yopp".
- No Full Name Given: In the book, his last name is unspoken, though in the movie, it's "McDodd".
- Odd Name Out: In the movie at least, he's the only one of his parents' children who doesn't have a name beginning with H (he's also the oldest and the only boy, so he sticks out like a sore thumb).
- Related in the Adaptation: In the movie, he and the Mayor are father and son.
Sally
- Adaptational Hairstyle Change: She wears her hair down in the book and in most adaptations, but in the movie, she has pigtails.
- Character Exaggeration: In the book, she's a bit concerned about what her mother would say if she saw the cat's antics, but in the movie, she's a straight-up control freak.
- Named by the Adaptation: Downplayed. She's given a last name (Walden) in the movie.
- No Full Name Given: In the book, and in most adaptations, her last name isn't revealed.
Sally's brother/Conrad
- Adapted Out: In The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That, he is absent and replaced by Nick, Sally’s best friend and neighbor.
- Adaptation Personality Change: In the book, he seems pretty responsible and concerned about what his and Sally's mother would do or say if she finds out about the cat's antics. In the movie, however, he's a daredevil and a rule-breaker.
- Cloud Cuckoolander: In the movie, he likes to slide downstairs.
- Named by the Adaptation: His name is Conrad Walden in the movie.
- Narrator: He narrates both The Cat in the Hat and The Cat in the Hat Comes Back.
- No Name Given: In the book, he is unnamed, but in the movie, his name is Conrad.
Other Cats in Hats
Several smaller hatted cats have appeared, all black and white like The Cat in the Hat. Two of them (a boy and a girl) are his children, while 26 of them are named "Little Cat [Letter]" after the letters of the alphabet and live under the hats of the previous one (like Little Cat Z lives under Little Cat Y's hat and so on.)
- Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: They all wear hats.
- Ambiguously Absent Parent: The mother of the Cat in the Hat's children is never alluded to.
- Animals Not to Scale: Little Cat A is cat-sized, but all the other alphabet cats are smaller than regular cats, and the Cat in the Hat's children are the size of human children.
- Funny Animal: All anthropomorphic cats.
- Ms. Imagination: In the story "The Glunk Who Got Thunk", the Cat in the Hat's daughter thinks up very unusual creatures. Trouble is, whatever she imagines comes to life...
- Pink Means Feminine: The Cat in the Hat's daughter wears pink, and she's the only girl of the bunch.
- Unusual Pets for Unusual People: In Little Cat Z's head, he keeps a weird creature named Voom. Considering Little Cat Z is an anthropomorphic cat who is too small to see, he's certainly an unusual person.
Marco
The boy from McElligot's Pool, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, and "Marco Comes Late".
- Mr. Imagination: He likes thinking up very creative lies, like he was late for school because a bird laid an egg on his head and he was waiting for it to hatch, or he saw a parade on Mulberry Street.
The Fish
No, no! Make that cat go away! Tell that cat in the hat you do not want to play!
The grumpy, talking pet fish of Sally and her brother, who appeared in The Cat in the Hat and The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!.- Alliterative Name: In the cartoon, his name is Carlos K. Krinklebine.
- I Don't Think That's Such a Good Idea: He's often telling the cat that his actions are inadvisable, when he's not outright telling him to leave.
- Named by the Adaptation: He's unnamed in the book and most adaptations, but in the adaptation, he's named Carlos K. Krinklebine.
- No Name Given: In most iterations, he's unnamed.
- Talking Animal: He can talk but is otherwise not anthropomorphic.
