Seuss-related observations

[kate_nepveu]

SteelyKid is on a big Dr. Seuss kick at the moment, so, some observations:

• The Cat in the Hat is way better than The Cat in the Hat Comes Back.
• "We saw ALL the things fall" now makes me think of Hyperbole and a Half, per the icon, in a joke that will probably be forgotten by the time SteelyKid is old enough to understand it.
• Green Eggs and Ham is not a good model for personal relationships.
• It is, to my surprise, possible to do the nod-off-snap-awake whiplash thing while actually reading aloud.

  Good night (moon, room, cow jumping over the moon, light and the red balloon), everybody.

Comments

[mkozlows]

Cat in the Hat: No question. The sequel is like one of those Disney direct-to-DVD things where clearly it was farmed out to the B-team.

Green Eggs: So as I sort of said elsewhere, obviously with the incessant pestering, right. But once you account for the fact that kidbooks are pretty much built on repetition and comical exaggeration, the real message is "hey, when someone says that something is good, you should at least give it a try even if you don't think it sounds good. Like drugs." Which is a great wholesome message for picky children, except wait how did those last two words get in there.

[redbird]

Like drugs. Or letting them touch you whether you want it or not.

[mkozlows]

It's probably best to just limit the "lessons learned" part of GE&H to "don't be a picky eater," on the whole.

[kate_nepveu]

Yeah.

(Also, it's not until the end that the unnamed protag even makes it clear that he hasn't tried them before. At first you'd be justified in thinking that he had and knew he didn't like it, in which case Sam I Am ought to bugger off already.)

[mkozlows]

Also, I am probably incapable of thinking objectively about this book, because even now I am smiling at remembering 3-year-old Pip "reading" (he'd memorized it from us reading it to him) the book to himself at night, and hearing "Say, I LIKE green eggs and ham!" come from the bedroom in the most adorable toddler voice.

[kate_nepveu]

That is adorable.

[adrian_turtle]

I'm not sure it's a good idea to limit the "lessons learned" so as to exclude such an obvious "No Means No." When I was reading it to one of the local little girls, I suggested the possibility that Sam-I-Am was being mean. (After all, a given child is at risk of concluding "If I'm more and more dramatic about being a pest, then people will eventually stop saying "no" and "go away!" and do what I want," as well as being at risk of thinking stalking is cute and harmless.)

[kate_nepveu]

Yes, but that's a lesson learned that's actually diametrically opposed to the text. The text apparently sees it as a good thing that Sam-I-Am is a harassing jerk who won't take no for an answer.

[adrian_turtle]

I believe it's never too early to start learning to read critically, even at the "read to" stage.

[kate_nepveu]

I agree! It's just annoying to have to end every reading (multiple times a day, even) contradicting the story I've just spent ages reading out loud, you know?

[(Anonymous)]

While authorial intent doesn't necessarily count for much, I recall reading somewhere that Geisel hated the interpretation of GE&H to mean "you should try everything once"; he seemed to regard it as a silly story with no moral. Which is interesting since so many of his books had explicit morals.

(Obviously the real message is that we should be indifferent to train-on-ship accidents.)

Matt

[(Anonymous)]

I have to stick up for The Cat In The Hat Comes Back: it was my favorite as a kid, I think for its bizarre recursive science-fictional exuberance and also because, while the more psychedelic of the two, it actually had a more linear plot.

Jorie also went through a phase of loving that book, to the point that she had memorized the whole text and insisted on reciting most of it when I read it to her.

Matt McIrvin

[kate_nepveu]

_Comes Back_ bugs me for two reasons: first, it uses "laughed" as a said-verb a lot; and second, I can't help thinking how actively dumb the plot is, as opposed to just bizarrely chaotic. I mean, no, I don't expect the Cat in the Hat to go look for bleach and a sponge, but still, it would have stopped the whole book in its tracks.

Yes, I know, not in the spirit of the thing, but.

[(Anonymous)]

It's true, the overuse of "laughed" is irritating and obvious on reading aloud.

Matt

[kate_nepveu]

Also the increased activity of the narrator makes it clear that Sally doesn't get to do a damn thing.

[kouredios]

I'm pretty sure we only had The Cat in the Hat Comes Back when I was a kid, because though I had a general idea of the plot, and the existence of Thing 1 and Thing 2, it's the sequel's pink snow and that pink cake ring in the tub that are inscribed on my child-brain.

Those two books are kind of skeevy, looking back, too. The Cat's set up as "mischievous," but what he really is is pushy and disrespecting of boundaries, which is what I suspect your criticism of Green Eggs and Ham is too. It's interesting, though. I didn't read it that way as a child, and my daughter doesn't read it that way now. It's a kid-fantasy to make a huge mess and be able to push a reset button to fix it all up before Mom gets home. Moms see it so much differently. And, you know, the consent issues...

[kate_nepveu]

Actually I don't see the text or the characters as approving of the Cat even if his chaos is reset at the end, whereas Sam I Am's harassment is portrayed as unequivocally good in the end. So, yes, the Cat is skeevy but I see that as recognized in the text and the characters' reactions.

[kouredios]

That's true; though I had (in the past few years, as I reread them to my daughter) gotten the impression that while the kids in the books are clearly disapproving, the book itself, by not giving the Cat consequences for his actions in any way, is letting him off too lightly. I guess I'm drawing my conclusions based on that. My kid does seem to align herself with the kids in the books, and is mostly just disapproving-- but also recognizes and loves the Cat in the Hat in other contexts. I'm just really interested in the development of her response as a reader, since I'm up to my neck in lit crit professionally. :)

[(Anonymous)]

My daughter was later than her friends in being able to read chapter books for herself. We were on a red-eye flight in which I was the designated reader for some Box Car Children books. If I would nod off, I'd get a swift elbow in the side by a listener who no longer slept on planes by the time she got to be seven.

[kate_nepveu]

Oh, brutal. We hadn't done long travel with SteelyKid yet and I am dreading it; we are already timing her longer car rides to nap or bed times, because otherwise she is miserable and shares it.