Dr. Seuss books

The Cat in the Hat, The Lorax and The Sneetches
All by Dr. Seuss

The Cat in the Hat is a story about two bored kids home alone with nothing to do on a rainy day, until they get an unexpected visitor. This visitor (the Cat) is never actually invited to play with the children, but is never actually uninvited either. The only voice of reason is that of the children’s talking fish, which they never listen to. All of the Cat’s play results in a very messy house, with their mother on her way home. In the end, the Cat cleans up the entire mess only moments before their mother walks through the door.

I remember reading this book as a child and I enjoyed it just as much now as I did then. What I liked about this book is the rhyming of the words and that it is a book for a beginner reader that is also very interesting to read. All of Dr. Seuss’s “Beginner Books” can be described in the same way. I especially enjoy the talking fish; he is the voice of reason. I can really identify with him; I never enjoy doing fun things that are messy because I realize that I will probably be the one cleaning up the mess.

I didn’t realize that this book was commissioned by Houghton-Mifflin in 1957 as an alternative to the Dick and Jane basal readers. I went to grade school in the early seventies and my school system still used the basal readers. Luckily, my mother enrolled me in a Dr. Seuss book club and I got to enjoy all of the Dr. Seuss “Beginner Books” before I started first grade.

The Lorax is a story about what happens when you take from the earth and cut down trees without replanting for the sake of profit. This book is didactic; it conveys a message as well as entertains its readers. Dr. Seuss considered this to be his best book, but my favorite is The Sneetches. In The Sneetches, Dr. Seuss shows us that silly prejudice can have a heavy price tag. My daughter and I liked this book so much that one year we dressed up like sneetches for Halloween.