Dr Seuss is probably the best loved children's author till date. His books spark imagination and add fun to reading. The Emperor of Nonsense has written many books but here, I present 5 in 1 book review of Dr. Seuss books.
Hop On Pop
Hop on Pop is the simplest of all Dr. Seuss books. It contains several short poems about a variety of characters and is designed to introduce basic phonics concepts to children. It is most suitable for reading aloud to toddlers and for children who have just started to blend and read smaller words.
Hop on Pop is replete with rhyming words strung together in small and simple sentences creating a lot of fun.
The illustrations supporting the sentences are bound to cause laughter in children.
The Cat in the Hat
This book is a classic and Dr. Seuss's first book.
On a cold, rainy day, 2 children sit bored by the window while their mother is out. Just then a cat, wearing a red and white-striped hat and a red bow tie, enters their house offering them some good games to play. Ignoring the repeated objections from the children's fish, the cat insists on showing some of his tricks to entertain the 2 children. But, what follows is a ruckus and a mess all over the house since none of the games go down well.
There are also the famous Thing 1 and Thing 2 whose stupidity causes more nuisance. At the end, the cat cleans up all the mess just before the kids' mother is about to return, leaving the house just as it was in the beginning. As she steps in, the mother asks the children what they did while she was out, but the children are hesitant and do not answer. The story ends with the question, "What would you do if your mother asked you?"
The words are rhyming, the scenes are absurd and this absurdity is what makes this one all the more fun.
Green Eggs and Ham
Another simple book in a story format. A character known as 'Sam-I-Am' pesters an unnamed character to try a dish of green eggs and ham. The unnamed character refuses, responding, "I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-Am." He continues to repeat this as Sam follows him, encouraging him to eat them in several locations (house, box, car, tree, train, dark, rain, and boat) and with several animals (mouse, fox, goat) all to which the unnamed character refuses. Finally, the unnamed character gives into Sam's pestering and tries the green eggs and ham, which he finds that he does like after all in the end and happily responds, "I do so like green eggs and ham. Thank you. Thank you, Sam-I-Am."
Green Eggs and Ham is written in a very simple vocabulary of just fifty different words for beginning readers. The constant repetition of the instances from the very beginning guarantee the rollicking.
One fish two fish red fish blue fish
This book is not in a story format. It is about numbers, colours, opposites (words and situations), rhyming words( yet again), laughter-inducing contexts and lots of funnily named creatures such as Zans (for opening cans), Gox (to box), Ying (who can sing), Yink (who drinks pink ink), Yop (who likes to hop), Zeds, Gack, Ish and a few more.
There is no story in this book but surreal and unrelated skits on every alternate page, which means you can open the book at any page and the fun begins from there.
Fox in Socks
Fox in Socks begins by introducing Fox and Knox (sometimes called "Mr. Fox" and "Mr. Knox") along with some props (a box and a pair of socks). After taking those four rhyming items through several permutations, more items are added (chicks, bricks, blocks, clocks), and so on. As the book progresses the Fox describes each situation with rhymes that progress in complexity, with Knox periodically complaining of the difficulty of the tongue-twisters.
Finally, after the Fox gives an extended dissertation on Tweetle Beetles who knock out with paddles while standing in a puddle inside a bottle on a noodle-eating poodle (a Muddle Puddle Tweetle Poodle Beetle Noodle Bottle Paddle Battle), Knox acts on his frustration by stuffing him into the bottle, reciting a tongue-twister of his own:
A fox is in the bottle where the tweetle beetles stop battling with their paddles in a puddle on a poodle.
There is an advisory which comes along with this book and it is "Take it SLOWLY. This book is dangerous."
My verdict -
All of these 5 books are available together in a box set called 'Beginner Book Collection'. If you have a toddler or a pre-schooler, then this box set is the best gift to induce a lifelong love of reading.
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