I read the book
04/03/12 05:23
I am a reader. I love books and there is never a time when I don’t have a couple of books in progress. The love of books is consistent with my calling, as reading is a big part of preparing sermons and thinking theologically. I am just a couple of years too old to have been raised with the Dr. Seuss book club. My parents subscribed my younger brother. Of course I read all of the books he got. The club had regular offerings by Dr. Seuss as well as basic readers by other authors. In those days, a subscription to the book club brought two books in the first mailing: “The Cat in the Hat” and “The Cat in the Hat Comes Back.” There were new books every month. We read them out loud to our younger brothers.
“The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins” was a favorite, so we were ready when “Bartholomew and the Oobleck” came out. We read “Horton Hatches the Egg,” which gave us plenty of anticipation for “Horton Hears a Who.” “Scrambled Eggs Super” was OK, but “Green Eggs and Ham” was spectacular.
I was still reading Dr. Seuss books when our children came along. And we bought the books for them to read. I had “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish” memorized before our children did. I never knew if they had learned to read the words or if they simply memorized the story word for word. And how can you resist reading “Hop on Pop” when you have a child who loves to sit and bounce on your belly?
“Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?” was designed to teach children about onomatopoeia, though one never knows for sure why children need to learn onomatopoeia before they are old enough to learn the word which is as much fun as the concept. I could get the “moo” and even the frying pan’s “sizzle,” but is a hippo’s “grum” a sound in he everyday world of a child?
How often can one read “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” and keep laughing? I don’t know. I still enjoy reading the book out loud when I have an audience.
We enjoyed the books tremendously. Most of the memorable titles were written by Theodore Geisel under the pen name based on his middle name, Dr. Seuss. After all, he published 46 titles in his lifetime. The one title from the book club that was not written by Dr. Seuss but will always remain a classic in our house is “Go Dog Go” by P.D. Eastman. Now that is a book that has everything: adventure, a touch of romance with glorious hats, cars, scooters, skis, chase scenes and a surprise ending! Wow! They don’t write books much better than that one.
Dr. Seuss, during his lifetime, resisted licensing his characters. These days, licensing is part of marketing books, but back then, he could earn a living by being a writer. The books sold well and the book club was an innovative way to get more books out. He didn’t need a line of toys or lunch boxes or other objects. Even after his death, his family was slow to go into the licensing business. I have preferred it that way.
So I wasn’t eager when they started making the books into movies. I did go to “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” It had been a made for TV movie when our children were younger and returning to the theatre to see the Grinch with Jim Carey’s voice and his loyal dog, Max, seemed like a good adventure with our then teenaged children.
But I didn’t go to “The Cat in the Hat” or “Horton Hears a Who.” I’d read the books and I preferred the images and voices in my imagination to whatever the big screen had to offer. I doubt if I will go to “The Lorax” which is showing in theatres now.
I am amused at the inflamed rhetoric that has arisen over the movie. The book was one of Dr. Seuss’s later creations and by the early 1970’s the environmental movement was very popular. The images of the earth from space that had come from the Apollo program combined with shortages of some natural resources to create an awareness of our relationship with this planet. Congress was passing environmental legislation, Earth day was begun, and there was a lot of interest in learning to reduce consumption and adjusting our lifestyles. I suppose that the times influenced Dr. Seuss. He may have injected some of his own opinions and ideas into the story. Certainly he was trying to teach values such as respect and care for other creatures. I’m sure the hopeful ending was on purpose.
But the furor over the movie is amusing to me. Yes, the book is a bit dark and contains an obvious environmental warning. But is it truly anti-capitalist? Did Dr. Seuss have some sinister objective of bringing down the financial system of our country? I think not. It seems more likely that it was a bit of a personal crusade. Dr. Seuss had a studio in Sand Diego overlooking the Pacific with lots of eucalyptus trees. He was opposed to the cutting of the trees for further development. Writing a children’s book was his way of resisting the developers. It worked. The trees were preserved.
I doubt that he set out to develop anti-business, anti-logging, environmental propaganda and to surreptitiously undermine society by indoctrinating children against big business.
The furor around the film is, for me, another reason to stay home and read a book. I did watch the trailer and I did notice that the online version was followed by an advertisement for a SUV. I doubt if the movie producers are armed for a full-out attack on big business.
Here is the difference. Dr. Seuss, in his lifetime, wrote books with the understanding and intention that parents would read his books with their children. He knew that parents have a much stronger influence on the values and behaviors of their children than do outside sources. He understood that nothing, not even good books, could substitute for good parenting. At the most, he used his books to bring up subjects for conversations within families. He never thought that he had the power to shape or indoctrinate children.
Sadly, movies, especially when they are burned onto DVD’s and brought into homes, are being substituted for parenting in today’s culture. A big screen TV is a poor substitute for a human babysitter, but it is employed far too often.
If people are concerned about the politics of a movie, they would do well to spend less time complaining and more time reading stories to children.
I know I have a stack of books waiting for the next visit from our grandson.
I was still reading Dr. Seuss books when our children came along. And we bought the books for them to read. I had “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish” memorized before our children did. I never knew if they had learned to read the words or if they simply memorized the story word for word. And how can you resist reading “Hop on Pop” when you have a child who loves to sit and bounce on your belly?
How often can one read “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” and keep laughing? I don’t know. I still enjoy reading the book out loud when I have an audience.
We enjoyed the books tremendously. Most of the memorable titles were written by Theodore Geisel under the pen name based on his middle name, Dr. Seuss. After all, he published 46 titles in his lifetime. The one title from the book club that was not written by Dr. Seuss but will always remain a classic in our house is “Go Dog Go” by P.D. Eastman. Now that is a book that has everything: adventure, a touch of romance with glorious hats, cars, scooters, skis, chase scenes and a surprise ending! Wow! They don’t write books much better than that one.
So I wasn’t eager when they started making the books into movies. I did go to “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” It had been a made for TV movie when our children were younger and returning to the theatre to see the Grinch with Jim Carey’s voice and his loyal dog, Max, seemed like a good adventure with our then teenaged children.
But I didn’t go to “The Cat in the Hat” or “Horton Hears a Who.” I’d read the books and I preferred the images and voices in my imagination to whatever the big screen had to offer. I doubt if I will go to “The Lorax” which is showing in theatres now.
I am amused at the inflamed rhetoric that has arisen over the movie. The book was one of Dr. Seuss’s later creations and by the early 1970’s the environmental movement was very popular. The images of the earth from space that had come from the Apollo program combined with shortages of some natural resources to create an awareness of our relationship with this planet. Congress was passing environmental legislation, Earth day was begun, and there was a lot of interest in learning to reduce consumption and adjusting our lifestyles. I suppose that the times influenced Dr. Seuss. He may have injected some of his own opinions and ideas into the story. Certainly he was trying to teach values such as respect and care for other creatures. I’m sure the hopeful ending was on purpose.
I doubt that he set out to develop anti-business, anti-logging, environmental propaganda and to surreptitiously undermine society by indoctrinating children against big business.
The furor around the film is, for me, another reason to stay home and read a book. I did watch the trailer and I did notice that the online version was followed by an advertisement for a SUV. I doubt if the movie producers are armed for a full-out attack on big business.
Here is the difference. Dr. Seuss, in his lifetime, wrote books with the understanding and intention that parents would read his books with their children. He knew that parents have a much stronger influence on the values and behaviors of their children than do outside sources. He understood that nothing, not even good books, could substitute for good parenting. At the most, he used his books to bring up subjects for conversations within families. He never thought that he had the power to shape or indoctrinate children.
Sadly, movies, especially when they are burned onto DVD’s and brought into homes, are being substituted for parenting in today’s culture. A big screen TV is a poor substitute for a human babysitter, but it is employed far too often.
If people are concerned about the politics of a movie, they would do well to spend less time complaining and more time reading stories to children.
I know I have a stack of books waiting for the next visit from our grandson.