<P> Geisel created the book in response to a debate in the United States about literacy in early childhood and the ineffectiveness of traditional primers such as those featuring Dick and Jane . Geisel was asked to write a more entertaining primer by William Spaulding, whom he had met during World War II and who was then director of the 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 . </P> <P> 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 words he found that rhymed . The words he found were cat and hat . The book was met with immediate critical and commercial success . Reviewers praised it as an exciting alternative to traditional primers . Three years after its debut, the book had already sold over a million copies, and in 2001 Publishers Weekly listed the book at number nine on its list of best - selling children's books of all time . The book's success led to the creation of Beginner Books, a publishing house centered on producing similar books for young children learning to read . In 1983, Geisel said, "It is the book I'm proudest of because it had something to do with the death of the Dick and Jane primers ." The book was adapted into a 1971 animated television special and a 2003 live - action film . Adrian Edmondson read the book as part of his audiobook collection for HarperCollins, alongside Fox in Socks, Green Eggs and Ham and the sequel book to The Cat in the Hat, The Cat in the Hat Comes Back . </P> <P> The story begins as a girl named Sally and her unnamed brother, who serves as the narrator of the book, sit alone in their house on a cold, rainy day, staring wistfully out the window . Then they hear a loud bump which is quickly followed by the arrival of the Cat in the Hat, a tall anthropomorphic cat in a red and white striped hat and a red bow tie . The Cat proposes to entertain the children with some tricks that he knows . The children's pet fish refuses, insisting that the Cat should leave . The Cat responds by balancing the fish on the tip of his umbrella . The game quickly becomes increasingy trickier, as the Cat balances himself on a ball and tries to balance lots of household items on his limbs until he falls on his head, dropping everything he was holding . The fish admonishes him again, but the Cat in the Hat just proposes another game . </P> <P> The Cat brings in a big red box from outside, from which he releases two identical creatures with blue hair and red suits called Thing One and Thing Two . The Things cause more trouble, such as flying kites in the house, knocking pictures off the wall and picking up the children's mother's new polka - dotted gown . All this comes to an end when the fish spots the children's mother out the window . In response, Sally's brother catches the Things in a net, and the Cat, apparently ashamed, stores them back in the big red box . He takes it out the front door as the fish and the children survey the mess he has made . But the Cat soon returns, riding a machine that picks everything up and cleans the house, delighting the fish and the children . The Cat then leaves just before their mother arrives, and the fish and the children are back where they started at the beginning of the story . As she steps in, the mother asks the children what they did while she was out, but the children are hesitant and do not answer . The story ends with the question, "What would you do if your mother asked you?" </P>

Where does the cat in the hat take place
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