Oh, The Places You’ll Go!

Set in a string of bright, geometric landscapes, Dr. Seuss's picture book follows an unnamed traveler, standing in for the reader, who decides to leave town and head out into the world. Told in rhyme and in the second person, it speaks to graduates of every age, from nursery school to medical school, with advice on facing fear, loneliness and confusion and on taking charge of one's own actions. Along the way come high heights, great sights and a prickly perch, as the verse and pictures move between life's ups and downs. Random House published it in 1990, and it was the last book of his to appear during his lifetime.

Richard Branson included it in his list of 65 books to read in a lifetime, and Chris Goward, founder of WiderFunnel, counts it as the first in four decades of mind-expanding reading.