It's stated that Theodore Geisel never made a point of having a specific moral in mind when writing a story He said that "kids can see a moral coming a mile off". Even though he wasn't opposed to writing about specific issues, he said that "there's an inherent moral in any story, and I'm subversive as hell."
I love Dr. Seuss. Most people do. I grew up with a well listened and worn LP record of Horton Hatches the Egg on one side, and The Sneetches and other Stories on the other.
(I still have this album in my basement).
These two book are probably my favorites and well worn into my mind.
The Sneetches and Other Stories
Those silly Sneetches wishing they had stars on thars. Of course there is a greater underlying theme to this story, that we are all alike no matter what our outside looks like. I'm not sure if I understood all that, or just wondered what old Sylvester McMonkey McBean did with that machine after fixing and unfixing all the Sneetches. Were there other places where Sneetches lived and wished to add or a remove a star?
Really the two best parts of this book for me where the story of Mrs. McCave who had 23 sons and named them all Dave, and the last story.
I love that one so much I wrote about it and the whole Sneetches collection here:
How To Name a Baby With the Help of Dr. Seuss
And the culmination of the collection is the frightful
What Was I Scared Of?
I'll tell you what! Pale green pants with nobody inside them! Come on, think about it, it is FRIGHTENING.
The majority of the events in the story are scary without even adding the pale green pants with nobody inside them. Picking a peck of Snide in a dark and gloomy Snide-field that was almost nine miles wide? Come on!!
Of course it all ends well...
My true Dr. Seuss love though is
Horton Hatches the Egg
Good old Horton. Rescuing the egg from the good for nothing Mayzie the Lazy Bird.
As a young child, confined to the endless prairie of North Dakota, where nothing interesting EVER happened, the fact that there was a line in the book referencing "Drake, North Dakota" made me feel validated. Drake is a real place, my best friend in kindergarten even moved there. Most books I'd read took place in New York City or Boston or some other well known city. Nothing in books ever happened in North Dakota.
Ahh, sad North Dakotan existence...
But back to Horton, he endured being taunted, being mocked by the other animals, because he was FAITHFUL and had made a promise to care for that egg while Mayzie took a break. Of course she comes back at the end and wants her egg back but sometime life rewards those that are good.
And as Dr. Seuss says, "it should be, it should be, it should be like that!"
You really can't go wrong with any Seuss book.
The 500 hats of Bartholomew Cubbins
and
Bartholomew and the Oobleck
Caldecott Honor Award, 1949
In both of these stories Bartholomew is the wise one who serves a silly king.
A couple more highly revered books in my home, worth a read or two are:
Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose
It really redefines the idea of a good host. Read and see why, one of my son's favorites.
Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories
Yertle, king of the turtles, wants to reign higher than everything so insists the other turtles create a tower he can rule from in order to try to be taller than the moon.
It doesn't work, it all falls apart (literally) because the bottom turtle, Mack, burps and throws the whole balance off, freeing all the turtles and leaving Yertle as "King of the Mud".
Who doesn't know the story of the Grinch? And his poor dog Max?
How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
The Christmas special is wonderful. The story narrated by Boris Karloff is amazing. Those wonderful baritone songs sung by Thurl Arthur Ravenscroft (the original voice of Tony the Tiger and his trademark "They're grrreat!").The redemption of the Grinch, coupled with the love and good will shown by the Whos is a true classic.
The book is also amazing and I'm often stunned that people have only seen the t.v. program and never read the actual book. Don't be one of those people!
Confession, in the end of the story the Grinch carves the "roast beast". I've always referred to roast beef as roast beast because of this. Recently we were out somewhere and my 15 year-old son called roast beef "roast beast". Oops.
McElligot's Pool
Caldecott Honor Award, 1947
"If I wait long enough, if I'm patient and cool, Who knows what I'll catch in McElligot's pool?"
A small boy, Marco (first in the book below), fishes in a puddle (as a passerby notes to him). But a child's dreams and persistence often pay off.
And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street
This was Dr. Seuss' first book.
I must stress though that while I don't think you can wrong with any Seuss book, you sure can be horrified watching the movie releases of his books. Whoever is managing his estate has sure missed the mark with the horrific Jim Carrey version of "The Grinch"
I admit I did see the movie version of "Horton Hears a Who!" and was excited and hated it.
Buyer beware.
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