How Many Different Words Are Used in Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss?

Only 50 words are used in Dr. Seuss' Green Eggs and Ham. The use of only 50 words was due to a bet that Bennett Cerf, Dr. Seuss' editor and co-founder of Random House, made in 1960 with the author that Dr. Seuss couldn't write a book using 50 words or less. The bet was for $50 (the equivalent of $382 as of 2011). Dr. Seuss succeeded, and Green Eggs and Ham became one of his best-selling books. In a poll done by the School Library Journal in 2012, Green Eggs and Ham placed as one of the "Top 100 Picture Books".

More about Dr. Seuss:

• Dr. Seuss' real name was Theodore Geisel. Seuss was his mother's maiden name and his middle name.
• In college, he used other pen names: Dr. Theophrastus Seuss, Theo LeSieg, and Rosetta Stone.
• Along with writing children's books, Geisel also wrote political cartoons between 1941 and 1943.