I am collecting Dr Seuss books for my son. Are there any which are not worth the effort?
IMO, none of them is so bad that it warrants complete dismissal (at least not if you like the others). Some are a bit weaker than others.
I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew is a bit of a struggle sometimes
Oh, the Places You’ll Go! tries to be inspirational but actually is just a bit trite
McElligot’s Pool and If I Ran the Circus just seem to go on forever, but can still be worth it if you’re in the right mood
Anyone else?
*Wacky Wednesday * is one that is often lumped into Seuss, but is not one. My daughter loved it though, so it’s worth looking at.
There are some Theo LeSeig books that aren’t as good. Those are books written by Geisel but illustrated by others. Lots of them are being rebranded as “Dr. Seuss” books nowadays. “I Wish That I Had Duck Feet” is pretty good.
Off the beaten path, I love McGelligott’s Pool as well as And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street, both are long and great as kids get older.
The Butter Battle Book is a little-known post-cold-war gem, and Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories has 3 stories with great moral lessons.
My favorite growing up was The Sleep Book. However, I cannot remember having a Seuss book that I did not like. (I did, however, have a limited collection of them.)
Yes. I would read both books on a boat. I’d even read them with a goat. I’d read them both with aplomb. I’d read these books to my Mom.
I taught my daughter her letters just by reading (and rereading, and rereading, and rereading) Hooper Humperdink…Not HIM!. As far as I know, it’s out of print, but I once found a copy on eBay.
It really helped her learn, because I wasn’t really even trying to teach–she just picked up on it from hearing the story so many times. So as sick as I got of the thing (I eventually didn’t even need the book to recite the story, and I can still quote large sections of it 10 years later), I’d have to recommend it!
I never disliked or even thought “meh” about a Dr. Seuss book. Most other of the I Can Read It All By Myself books were also worthwhile.
Fox in Socks and Green Eggs and Ham are my absolute favorites. Kids love them.
Technically, it is. Ted Geisel used the pen name Theo LeSeig when writing books that were illustrated by someone else (although not always- Great Day for Up and My Book About Me were two books illustrated by others which had the Dr. Seuss pen name on them.) Most of these books are now credited to “Dr. Seuss writing as Theo LeSeig.” Geisel also used the pen name Rosetta Stone on Because a Little Bug Went Ker-Choo!
Hooper Humperdink? Not Him! is still in print (with new illustrations). As far as I know, all of Seuss’s books (save for The Seven Lady Godivas, a silly-but-amusing book for adults which was basically Seuss putting to the test his new publisher’s promise to publish anything he wrote; and I Can Write!, written under the LeSeig name) are still in print.
I have no recommendations for your son, but all Seuss enthusiasts are encouraged to check out Philip Nel’s new book The Annotated Cat: Under the Hats of Seuss and His Cats, which reprints both Cat in the Hat books with a hat’s worth of footnotes, original Seuss illustrations, a short story and two essays by Seuss, and other plentiful goodies. Remember, the Cat’s 50th birthday is March 2nd!
Just watch out for the ersatz Seuss that’s being put out these days. His heirs apparently have prostituted his name and characters for big money.
It’s easy to tell fake Seuss from real Seuss- although there a a number of books featuring Seuss characters (mostly educational ones under “The Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library” label) which are not true Seuss books, the author and illustrator are credited and there is no reference of Dr. Seuss on the cover. (And although it is true his characters have been “prostituted for big money,” Mrs. Geisel- his widow and the president of the company which licenses the characters- has been on record as saying she hated the Cat in the Hat movie and is being more lenient in licensing since then.)
One of the great things about Dr. Seuss books is that the kids are familiar with them… when it comes time to learn to read, they can pick up Hop on Pop and tear through it…
I think On Beyond Zebra was published posthumously, based on an incomplete work, but completed quite sensitively IIRC. I’ve only read it once, but I seem to remember thinking it captured the charm of the Seuss universe.
Speaking of erzatz Seuss…
Nope- first published 1955. (One of my favorite lesser Seusses, by the way- I love the idea of an extended alphabet.)
Posthumous Dr. Seuss books:
Daisy-Head Mayzie (1995, from an unpublished manuscript)
My Many-Colored Days (1996, from an unpublished manuscript)
Hooray for Diffendoofer Day! (1998, from an manuscript left unfinished at his death, completed by Jack Prelutsky)
Gerald McBoing-Boing (2000, adaptation of a short subject written by Geisel)
McElligot’s Pool and If I Ran the Circus were the ones that got me hooked as a kid.
I would read them over and over.
The others with the odd creatures seemed a lot less interesting.
And the Ooblick one, forget the title, where it rained green gunk.
My very favorite as a child was Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now, which it seems nobody else really read. It was the one I made my dad read over and over and over and over and over and over and over…
And Marvin went.
badkittypriestess runs upstairs to her sons room to read Dr. Suess books! 