Dr. Seuss holiday favorite 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas!' is getting a sequel this fall — more than 60 years after the original was published

• The holiday classic "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" is getting a sequel this year.
• Random House and Dr. Seuss Enterprises announced the follow up, slated for September.

Nearly 66 years after the release of the original holiday classic, Dr. Seuss' "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" is getting a sequel.

The sequel, titled "How the Grinch Lost Christmas!" is set a year after the original story ends, Random House Children's Books and Dr. Seuss Enterprises announced Thursday. The book joins a long list of stories that have been published since the 1991 death of Theodor Geisel, who wrote dozens of children's books under the pen name Dr. Seuss.

However, the continuation of the beloved Christmas grouch's story will not be a posthumous publication of a finished work, or based on sketches or notes from Geisel like some of the other releases. Instead, it will be an original story written by Alastair Heim and illustrated by Aristides Ruiz, both of whom have worked on Dr. Seuss-related material for years, Random House said.

"One of the most asked questions we receive from Seuss fans of all ages is 'What do you think happened to the Grinch after he stole Christmas?'" Alice Jonaitis, executive editor of Dr. Seuss Publishing, said in a statement.

The new Grinch tale, set to release in September, is an original story written and drawn in the style of Dr. Seuss and that will be published in his name. The original Grinch tale, which has inspired multiple retellings across movies and TV, has sold almost 10 million copies in North America since its 1957 release, and had a record year of sales in 2022, Random House said.

The new story, set one year after the original, will follow the now-beloved Grinch as he devises a plan to win Whoville's "Christmas Crown" by making a giant, spectacular tree, but eventually threatens to leave the town forever when his plans go awry.

Seuss' legacy has grown more complicated in recent years, as his estate announced in 2021 that it would stop the publication of six of his many books due to "hurtful and wrong" portrayals of certain ethnicities that many claimed were racist.

The announcement ignited a debate about "cancel culture," causing several other popular Seuss titles like "Green Eggs and Ham" to rise to the top of Amazon's bestseller lists.