Dr. Seuss is a genius with children’s books and I love reading them even now that I am older and read them to my son. The Cat in the Hat is a timeless book that kids love. I read it so much when I was younger that I probably had it memorized. Over time, I grew out of my Dr. Seuss phase but now my son is obsessed with The Cat in the hat so we read it at least every other night.
This book is about a little boy and girl (whose name is Sally) who have to stay indoors all day while it is raining and their mother is out. They are very bored because they have nothing to do so they are just staring out of the window until a visitor arrives. Their visitor is a large cat who has come to entertain them. The cat makes a huge mess in their house and he thinks he can do whatever he wants. The pet fish, who can talk, is the voice of reason in this story and he keeps asking the cat to leave because he is not welcome.
I think the reason kid’s love this story so much is because it so funny and impractical and the pictures are great. It makes no sense that a large cat would ever show up at your door with all sorts of gadgets to entertain you, especially two creatures by the name of thing one and thing two. Even though all children most likely realize the impracticability of this happening it is fun to imagine the “what if” factor.
The thing that also makes this book so intriguing to children is the element of rebellion and rule-breaking. I am sure that most kids have been told not to let strangers into their homes, especially if the parents are not home, and I am guessing that most everyone knows that you do not fly kites in the house. Even though these seem like obvious rules to follow, it is fun to watch someone else break them and not have to worry about getting into trouble yourself.
As the reader of this book you can see both sides of the situation. The Cat wants to have fun and do all sorts of things that are not allowed, and the fish knows that the cat should leave because he will only get them into trouble. Even though Sally and the little boy know that the fish is right, they are bored on this rainy day and want something to do.
I think there are very few books like this written today, this book plays on the reader’s notion of good sense vs. nonsense. The main books that I would compare to this are The Amelia Bedelia Books. She is always doing nonsensical things and it is always obvious to the reader. For instance in one Amelia Bedelia book, Mrs. Rogers (who is Amelia’s employer) tells her to dust the furniture and Amelia takes that to mean that she should put dusting powder all over the couch and other pieces.
This is the same with everything that Amelia encounters; she always interprets things wrong and makes a huge mess. Her mistakes are always hilarious, and children love to read about them, but I do not think her books compare to The Cat in the Hat. Whereas in The Cat in the Hat, there is the presence of sense in the form of the fish, there is not this presence in Amelia Bedelia, the only person who knows she is not doing what she is supposed to is the reader.
Dr. Seuss also wrote the didactic book The Lorax. If a book is considered didactic it is meant that it is instructional and aims to teach the reader something. This book is about a man called the Once-ler who makes a business out of chopping down Truffula Trees in order to make Thneeds. The Lorax is a creature who speaks for the trees and asks the Once-ler to stop cutting down the trees. The Lorax is also concerned with the pollution that the Once-ler’s factory is creating and the waste that he is dumping in the pond behind his business. This is a book that serves to teach children about the importance of protecting the environment. It is written very well in a way that is not boring at all to kids.
I can think of a whole series of didactic books that are popular among children today. The Magic School Bus is a series that includes many books that teach children about different things such as the human body, hurricanes, other countries, the solar system, the earth, animals and their habitats, etc. These books all start out the same way, with the teacher (Mrs. Frizzle) preparing her class to go on a field trip. They get on the school bus to leave for the field trip and they are magically transported to space, or inside the human body, or a beehive, etc. It is very informative and children love to read these books because they are exciting and offer great information that is not presented in a boring manner.
I love the rhyming that is in The Lorax and I wish Dr. Seuss had written other didactic books that teach children other lessons too because his writing is so unique. I am not a big fan of the message in The Lorax because I think this book paints a very negative view of big business, and I do not think humans are causing the environment to suffer, but I do love the pictures and the imagination that Dr. Seuss used to create the Truffula trees and the animals like the humming fish and bar-ba-loots.
Images courtesy of www.swapmeetdave.com/Humor/Cats/Cat-Hat-Book.jpg and www.scottsdalecc.edu/green/images/lorax_1_.jpg
This book is about a little boy and girl (whose name is Sally) who have to stay indoors all day while it is raining and their mother is out. They are very bored because they have nothing to do so they are just staring out of the window until a visitor arrives. Their visitor is a large cat who has come to entertain them. The cat makes a huge mess in their house and he thinks he can do whatever he wants. The pet fish, who can talk, is the voice of reason in this story and he keeps asking the cat to leave because he is not welcome.
I think the reason kid’s love this story so much is because it so funny and impractical and the pictures are great. It makes no sense that a large cat would ever show up at your door with all sorts of gadgets to entertain you, especially two creatures by the name of thing one and thing two. Even though all children most likely realize the impracticability of this happening it is fun to imagine the “what if” factor.
The thing that also makes this book so intriguing to children is the element of rebellion and rule-breaking. I am sure that most kids have been told not to let strangers into their homes, especially if the parents are not home, and I am guessing that most everyone knows that you do not fly kites in the house. Even though these seem like obvious rules to follow, it is fun to watch someone else break them and not have to worry about getting into trouble yourself.
As the reader of this book you can see both sides of the situation. The Cat wants to have fun and do all sorts of things that are not allowed, and the fish knows that the cat should leave because he will only get them into trouble. Even though Sally and the little boy know that the fish is right, they are bored on this rainy day and want something to do.
I think there are very few books like this written today, this book plays on the reader’s notion of good sense vs. nonsense. The main books that I would compare to this are The Amelia Bedelia Books. She is always doing nonsensical things and it is always obvious to the reader. For instance in one Amelia Bedelia book, Mrs. Rogers (who is Amelia’s employer) tells her to dust the furniture and Amelia takes that to mean that she should put dusting powder all over the couch and other pieces.
This is the same with everything that Amelia encounters; she always interprets things wrong and makes a huge mess. Her mistakes are always hilarious, and children love to read about them, but I do not think her books compare to The Cat in the Hat. Whereas in The Cat in the Hat, there is the presence of sense in the form of the fish, there is not this presence in Amelia Bedelia, the only person who knows she is not doing what she is supposed to is the reader.
Dr. Seuss also wrote the didactic book The Lorax. If a book is considered didactic it is meant that it is instructional and aims to teach the reader something. This book is about a man called the Once-ler who makes a business out of chopping down Truffula Trees in order to make Thneeds. The Lorax is a creature who speaks for the trees and asks the Once-ler to stop cutting down the trees. The Lorax is also concerned with the pollution that the Once-ler’s factory is creating and the waste that he is dumping in the pond behind his business. This is a book that serves to teach children about the importance of protecting the environment. It is written very well in a way that is not boring at all to kids.
I can think of a whole series of didactic books that are popular among children today. The Magic School Bus is a series that includes many books that teach children about different things such as the human body, hurricanes, other countries, the solar system, the earth, animals and their habitats, etc. These books all start out the same way, with the teacher (Mrs. Frizzle) preparing her class to go on a field trip. They get on the school bus to leave for the field trip and they are magically transported to space, or inside the human body, or a beehive, etc. It is very informative and children love to read these books because they are exciting and offer great information that is not presented in a boring manner.
I love the rhyming that is in The Lorax and I wish Dr. Seuss had written other didactic books that teach children other lessons too because his writing is so unique. I am not a big fan of the message in The Lorax because I think this book paints a very negative view of big business, and I do not think humans are causing the environment to suffer, but I do love the pictures and the imagination that Dr. Seuss used to create the Truffula trees and the animals like the humming fish and bar-ba-loots.
Images courtesy of www.swapmeetdave.com/Humor/Cats/Cat-Hat-Book.jpg and www.scottsdalecc.edu/green/images/lorax_1_.jpg
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