Volume 37, Number 20 · December 20, 1990
The Cabinet of Dr. Seuss
By Alison Lurie
BOOKS DISCUSSED IN THIS ESSAY
And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street
(Vanguard, 1937; Random House, 1988), $9.95
Horton Hatches the Egg
Random House, $10.95
McElligot's Pool
Random House, $8.95
Bartholomew and the Oobleck
Random House, $9.95
Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose
Random House, $3.95 (paper)
Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories
Random House, $12.95
If I Ran the Zoo
Random House, $3.95 (paper)
Horton Hears a Who
Random House, $10.95
On Beyond Zebra!
Random House, $3.95 (paper)
If I Ran the Circus
Random House, $3.95 (paper)
The Cat in the Hat
Random House, $6.95
One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish
Random House, $6.95
I Can Lick 30 Tigers Today!
Random House, $3.95 (paper)
The Lorax
Random House, $11.95
The Butter Battle Book
Random House, $9.95
You're Only Old Once!
Random House, $12.95
Oh, the Places You'll Go!
Random House, $12.95
Theodore Seuss Geisel, known to millions as Dr. Seuss, is the most popular living juvenile author in America today. Almost everyone under forty was brought up on his books and cartoons, and even those who didn't hear the stories read aloud or see them on TV probably met his fantastic characters at school. Beginning with The Cat in the Hat in 1957, Seuss revolutionized the teaching of reading, managing to create innovative, crazily comic tales with a minimum vocabulary (The Cat in the Hat uses only 220 words). The inventive energy of these books and their relative freedom from class and race norms made middle-class suburban Dick and Jane look prissy, prejudiced, and totally outdated.
Review, 3153 words
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