SPRINGFIELD– Despite having died more than a decade ago, a new Dr. Seuss book is set to be released on Sept. 3 and the Springfield Museums plan to celebrate.

The book, “Horse Museum,” was announced by Penguin Random House in February in a press release. According to the release, the manuscript for the book was found in Suess’ California home more than two decades after his death. At the same time, the manuscript for “What Pet Should I Get,” which was released in 2015, was found.

“Horse Museum” takes readers through a tour of a museum with a horse guiding them and is illustrated by children’s book and comic book artist, Andrew Joyner.

Jenny Powers, family engagement coordinator for the Springfield Museums, told Reminder Publishing, “He didn’t try to copy Dr. Seuss’s look, he tried to do it in the spirit of Dr. Seuss while reflecting his own style.”

In honor of the new book, the Springfield Museums are hosting a release party on Sept. 7 with activities taking place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The celebration will include horses in the Quadrangle, a scavenger hunt through artwork to find horses, a visit from the Cat in the Hat, a horse-drawing lesson, and more.  

The celebration also falls on the last weekend of the Thomas and Friends exhibit, Powers said, making it a great weekend to visit the museums.

Powers said the new book is exciting for many reasons, one of the largest reasons is continuing to expose children to Seuss’ work. She explained, “New Dr. Seuss fans are being born everyday. Kids are getting older and learning how to read all the time, that’s not going to change. My own daughter, the first book she ever read cover to cover was “Green Eggs and Ham.””

She went on to say any lessons children can take from Seuss’ books “is a gift” and any device that gets kids excited to read is “great.”

“Springfield is a book desert. Anything that can get them excited about learning to read is enormous, it’s wonderful,” Powers shared. “To have a hook like Dr. Seuss, what they already know and love, and to get excited about reading and coming to an educational institution is just fantastic.”

She said another reason the book is exciting is its discussion of art.

“It talks a lot about art, that’s really important to us,” she said. “Getting kids excited about art makes me happy too.”