The Bippolo Seed by Dr Seuss

The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories by Dr Seuss

Rating: 4 stars

Happy birthday, Dr. Seuss!

How could I not review one of his many great books on his birthday?  I don't want him turning over in his grave on my account...

The Bippolo Seed is a collection of seven short stories or long poems--I'm not sure how you could categorize them, as Sr. Seuss is pretty great at creating things that are wonderfully uncategorizable.  Just like that word I totally made up.  About two years ago Lorelei went through a Dr. Seuss phase when she would check out all the books by him that our library had, and then that our county had, and then sit on the sofa and laugh at the jokes.  She was just at that wonderful time when she could appreciate the silliness of his rhymes and also understand some of the jokes.

One of the short stories in the book is "Gustav, the Goldfish"--a funny story that is filled with such suspense that my boys were on the edge of their seat when I read it.  Like most of Dr. Seuss's work, these stories are great to read out loud.

A boy feeds his fish just a little too much after the man who sells him the fish warns against this very thing.  Due to his overfeeding, the fish grows and grows and grows.  The boy puts it in a larger container and then a larger container until the fish is as big as a bathtub and then OH NO he won't fit in the boy's bathtub!  With a whoooosh and a sloooosh the boy and his whale-of-a-fish burst through the bathroom door and into the now-flooded cellar.  Suddenly, the man who sold the fish to Gustav appears with magic dust to shrink Gustav back to his original goldfish size.

Does this story sound familiar to you?  If it does, you've probably read A Fish Out of Water by Helen Palmer.  And Helen Palmer's married name was Helen Palmer Geisel, as in Theodore Geisel's wife.  As in Dr. Seuss's WIFE!  He wrote the poem that is in The Bippolo Seed in 1950 for Redbook magazine.  After it was published, he formally gave his wife permission to turn it into a children's book.  "Change it however your heart desires" were a few of the words included in his formal permission.

It just makes me realize, as I toil my way to writing children's books myself, that perhaps I should have married an already established author, one who had too many ideas for his own good, and I could just nab some of his and rewrite them as my own.  Man!  I really did NOT plan ahead...

This book has some quality, fun stuff though is not my favorite of all Dr Seuss books.  Still, you can't go wrong with him--check it out for yourself!

How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss

How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss

Rating: 5 stars

I'm not sure if there's a more iconic holiday book than How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  I was lying awake last night thinking of this book (and way too many other things...thank you, insomnia) and how kids really need to be familiar with it, for cultural literacy's sake.  They need to be able to catch the references in their middle and older years.  If not, they'll be like the girl in my sophomore English class who had never heard of Star Wars before That Day in class when her innocent "Star Wars?  What's that?" received a not-so-polite barrage of sarcastic answers.  Her parents earned a few demerits for being that strict with TV.

Just in case that gal in English class is reading and doesn't know the story: the Grinch is a loveable villain who wants to stop Christmas from happening in Who-ville.  He dresses up like Santa Claus, and, with the help of his funnily pathetic mutt Max, visits all the homes in Who-ville.  Instead of dropping off presents and good tidings, he steals all their gifts and decorations and even the last log on their fire!

When he has collected everything, he heads to the nearest cliff.  He's about to push over every last bit of it when he hears loud, vibrant singing from Who-ville that alerts him to the fact that the Christmas spirit lives on despite the lack of presents and decorations and logs.  The Grinch's heart grows in size and he returns to the village to return the Christmas packages and join in the festivities.

Of course we parents are familiar with the Grinch spirit, too.  I admit I am.  I am overwhelmed by all the noise and the stuff and want to grumble along through the whole month of December, and I think pretty Grinchy thoughts about the ohmygoshsohighsoshighSOHIGHSOSOSOSOHIGH levels of excitement of my kids.

But then I stop.  How can I get annoyed by excitement?  Am I that lame of a muggle?!

So here's a list of things that get me less-Grinch-like and more excited about the holidays.  (Feel free to add some of your own in comments section...comments make my day!)

• Baking Christmas cookies (then letting the boys use the dustbuster to suck up the zillion sprinkles that didn't make it onto the cookies)
• Taking a carriage ride at the nearby Reston Town Center (haven't done it yet but plan to!)
• Going ice skating...or, if you're a kid, learning how to ice skate for the first time
• Wrapping a few gifts for the kids, reading any and all books before they get wrapped
• Starting a fire (or watching our kids hand my husband logs while he starts one), and watching the kids mesmerized by the flame
• Going to my sister's house--she manages to out-holiday me every time, but her decorations and spirit inspire me
• Drinking a cup of Celestial Seasonings seasonal teas (Candy Cane Lane is what I'm sipping now)
• Putting on the one Christmas album I have...Elvis!

Moral of the story: Don't be a Grinch.  And when you feel a little Grinch-y, go play with your kids.  They'll un-Grinch-ify you in a jiffy.

Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories by Dr. Seuss

Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories by Dr. Seuss

Rating: 5 stars

The holidays are coming, and I know you're tempted to buy a bunch of toys for those kids on your list.  Don't do it!  Don't give in!  I urge you to consider two things: books and experiences.  Since this blog is supposed to focus on just the first of these two things, I'll do my best to stay on track and give you some great books to buy for your kids.

Like this one.

A classic!  If it's not on your child's shelf, rectify the situation and order it right now.  There are three books in this collection, which is my favorite Dr. Suess collection.  His rhymes shine and make both big and little kids (also known as grown-ups and children) giggle, but the poems deliver a punch: each one has a masterful life lesson that make me grateful for reading them every time I do.

I'm Yertle the Turtle! Oh marvelous me!
For I am the ruler of all that I see!

I remember the first time I read these three stories to Lorelei.  My rump was perched on a pint-sized chair and she sat, mesmerized, as I read line after line.  She was three.  (I think that's a little young for this collection, but better too early than not at all.)  I wasn't a fan of Dr. Suess because I thought him long-winded, like the crusty, pompous professor who can't stop himself when he gets going on a lecture, and drones on and on, amused with himself but losing the crowd.

But these books woke me up from my not-a-fan sleep and I have pledged my allegiance ever since.

The first story is of Yertle the Turtle, a greedy turtle king who realizes how low his thrown is, and forces all the turtles around him to make a stack so that he can be taller than his current perch.  He keeps making turtles stack up higher and higher and higher so that he can see more and more and more until suddenly--you saw this coming--one of the plain turtles down below politely complains that his back and shoulders hurt.  Yertle doesn't care and stacks on and on, but the turtle on the bottom burps innocently and shakes the whole stack.  Since Yertle was so high, he fell far.  Ker-plunk into the mud, of which he is now king.  "And the turtles, of course...all the turtles are free / As turtles, and maybe, all creatures should be."

The second story is of Gertrude McFuzz, a funny bird-like creature that has one puny tail feather and wants more and finer tail feathers, like a popular little gal she knows.  She makes a big fuss to her uncle-doctor, who gives in and gives her the secret: go to a pill-berry vine and eat just one berry.  No more!  Of course, after a fine tail feather pops out of her behind moments after eating the first berry, she gobbles still more, until her tails are gorgeous and full and...very, very heavy.  Since she could neither run nor walk, all those tail feathers had to plucked out, one by one.  Ouch!  See?  Accept yourself as you are, nods the wise Dr. Suess.  It's better that way.  Save yourself the plucking hassle.

Then the little old worm gave his head a small jerk
And he dived in his hole and went back to his work.

The third is "The Big Brag."  A rabbit and bear (both male, I should point out) engage in a silly fight over who is the best.  They perform impossibly stupid feats--the rabbit explains how his ears can hear a fly cough from over two mountains away and the bear says his nose can smell one stale egg in a nest in a tree next to a farm that is beyond far away far.  To break up their rift, a worm pops up and explains that he can see (chuckle, chuckle!) better than they can hear and smell.  And he stares this crazy serious stare and makes up a crazy serious story about what he sees.  He goes on and on adding distance until:

And I kept on looking and looking until
I'd looked 'round the world and right back to this hill!
And I saw on this hill, since my eyesight's so keen,
The two biggest fools that have ever been seen!
And the fools that I saw were none other than you,
Who seem to have nothing else better to do
Than sit here and argue who's better than who!

Funny stuff that has a wonderfully serious, important lesson.  Does it get better than this?  Not really.  That Dr. Suess is one of a kind...

If I Ran the Zoo by Dr Seuss

If I Ran the Zoo by Dr Seuss

Rate: 4 stars

I'm not sure if we could have had a more perfect first day of summer.  My day started at 5 (thanks, Kiefer), with the other boy (that'd be Ben) joining us shortly.  We woke Sleeping Beauty (aka sweet Lorelei).  By 7:30 we were all dressed, breakfasted, and heading to the National Zoo.  I think the sloths were still snoozing when we got there.

Heat advisory?  Bah!  We laugh at thee.  

We live about 45 minutes from the "big zoo," as we call it (not to be compared to the "little zoo," which is approximately 8 minutes or one Eric Carle book away).  The great thing about this book is it takes almost 45 minutes to read.  It's one of those books that you suggest your child request when it's your spouse's turn to read bedtime books.  And then settle yourself into the sofa, because it'll be a while.

In truth, it's not my all-time favorite Dr Seuss tale (in case you're wondering, it's a tie between "Yertle the Turtle" and "The Big Brag").  It's soooooooooooooo long.  I get a little tired of the crazy new animals and the crazy new places they come from.  And the crazy new methods that the crazy new zookeeper uses to capture them.  

However, there are some things that I DO like about this book:

Lorelei, reading book #519 of the day.

First, I spend a lot of time asking my older crazy questions, and listening to their answers.  We talk about places we would like to travel (they insist on China, and have begun to dig a hole in our backyard to get there...geez...), places we all remember traveling to (Colorado.  Sigh...), animals that we want to see (always a giraffe!).  And then there's the made-up stuff: it could just be a name or place that they come up with, but also animals like those in Dr Seuss' creative mind.  I ask them about their made-up animal, what it looks like, how big it is, what it eats, where it would live in our house, just fun stuff.  This book lends itself to creative talk like this.

This is the stuff that happens when you don't have a DVD player/TV in your car.  Just sayin'.

Second, the whole book is about a young boy saying "This a cool zoo, but I'd run it differently."  I'm always asking my kids that--how would you paint a flower?  what would you have done in that situation?  why do you think he wanted to do that?  I want them to be able to see something and figure out how they'd make it better or just do it differently.  We emphasize, in our house, that there are more than one way to do something, mostly because I hate being railroaded with "it's my way or the highway" attitudes.

Lorelei is in a huge Dr Seuss stage; we checked out The Bippolo Seed last week, and she read it three times from cover to cover that I know of.  Who knows if she's already started to read with a flashlight under the covers after I ask her to stop?  She loves the rhyming, she laughs out loud at the silliness of the words, and the pictures are equally entertaining.   She actually woke up Kiefer while reading this book, laughing at something she read.  Luckily he passed right out again.

Oh, and how did our perfect summer day end?  Well, since you didn't ask (but since I know you want to know, Mom)...  We zipped home to feed our hounds and let them out, though the kids didn't even get out of the car.  Then we went to the library because there was a Summer Reading Kick-Off party with a magician.  We couldn't miss that!  From there we came home and collapsed, still wilted from the morning's heat.

Then we played baseball in the kitchen, chased Guidry around the table a few hundred times, and clapped for Kiefer every time he took a few steps.  We ate pancakes for dinner, danced before clean-up, and bathed the sweat and sunscreen away.

Yup, I'm pooped.  In a great way.

My Many Colored Days by Dr Seuss, illustrated by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher

My Many Colored Days by Dr Seuss, illustrated by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher

Rating: 4.5 stars

Well here's a book about something I neither practice nor preach!  But, funnily, I still love it.

Here's the good news: We pass our own habits on to our children.  And now, the bad news: We pass our own habits on to our children.

Darn those double-edged swords.  Emotions are something I struggle to teach.  My father taught us to be in control of our emotions, to always think clearly and act deliberately rather than simply react thoughtlessly to circumstances.  And my mom (hi, mom!) was able to and taught us to put a smile on our face regardless of the situation.  So I actually expect my children to be cheerful and happy most of the time.  Moments of grumpiness, okay.  But all day long?  No way.  And, they are cheerful and happy the vast majority of the time.  I'm not sure if I'm denying them the "right" to be sad or angry or whatever...their therapists will let me know, I'm sure.  Hope they choose a cheap one.

Or maybe I'll slip this book under their pillows and they can learn about emotions through osmosis.

"On other days I'm other things
On Bright Blue Days I flap my wings."

But here are the words to this book.  I couldn't choose which stanzas I like the best, so here is all of it:

Some days are yellow. Some are blue.
On different days, I'm different too
You'd be surprised how many ways
I change on different colored days.
On bright red days how good it feels
To be a horse and kick my heels!
On other days I'm other things...
On bright blue days I flap my wings.
Some days, of course, feel sort of brown.
Then I feel slow, and low, low down.
Then comes a yellow day and wheeeee!
I am a busy, buzzy bee.
Gray day...everything is gray.
I watch.  But nothing moves today.
Then all of a sudden I'm a circus seal
On my orange days that's how I feel.
Green days.  Deep deep in the sea.
Cool and quiet fish, that's me.
But when my days are happy pink
It's great to jump and just not think.
Then come my black days.  MAD.  And loud.
I howl.  I growl at every cloud.
Then comes a mixed-up day and WHAM
I don't know who or what I am.
But it all turns out all right you see
And I go back to being me.

Ten Apples Up On Top! by Dr. Seuss

Ten Apples Up On Top! by Dr. Seuss, illustrated by Roy McKie

Rating: 5 balanced stars

Obviously, I have two kids.  So I'm constantly juggling their needs and interests and snacks to try and keep things interesting and balanced.  Sometimes I succeed.  Books like this one help--both Lorelei and Ben love it equally.  Many of the I Can Read By Myself Books are great like that; the text is simple enough for the beginner reader (Lorelei, 3 1/2) but also silly enough with fun illustrations for the younger listener (Ben, 20 months).

I should go buy this book we've checked it out so much, but the few times I've done that the book suddenly becomes less special.  Just like when a toy at a friend's house is much more interesting than when your mother buys it for you at home.  Humph!

This is my favorite Dr. Suess book, and has been for decades.  I prefer the more tamed, more succinct Dr. Suess (I can't get over how long Happy Birthday To You and If I Ran the Zoo are!)...but that could be just a phase.

Hop on Pop by Dr Seuss

Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss

Rating: 4 stars

Last week my husband's family visited us from the Midwest.  It was a delightful visit...I'm not sure who charmed who more--Lorelei and Ben charming their grandparents, or their grandparents charming them?  Either way, the days with them were just great.

Of course, the visit involved lots of books.  I think this is at the top of the list of why their grandparents appreciate them: they will sit and listen to books for hours.  Well, Lorelei more than Ben as his attention span is still developing, but that's understandable.  Lorelei would choose a book, climb up on a lap, listen to it, correct them if they mis-read a word or two, and then put it back and get another one.  Then she repeated the whole thing over and over and over again.

I was especially glad she chose this one to read with her grandfather.  Why?  Because his grandkids all call him Pop-Pop.  So Pop-Pop read Hop on Pop.  Hee, hee!

It's a fine book, and really timely as Lorelei is starting to spell words and realize that if you change the first letter in a word, it often turns into another word.  Or a funny non-word.  This book is in the "Simplest Suess for Youngest Use" category, and while I'm not a huge fan of Dr. Suess, this one is good for beginning readers and spellers. 

This book is a nonsensical, whimsical romp through Dr. Suess's zany imagination.  No more, no less!

Dr Seuss's ABC

Dr Seuss's ABCs by Dr Seuss

Rating: 5 stars, in alphabetical order

I can just imagine the conversation...

Me:  "Good morning, officer."

Officer:  "Good morning, ma'am.  Do you know why I pulled you over?"

Me:  "Umm...not exactly."

Officer:  "You were driving erratically.  Are you under the influence?  Have you been drinking?"

Me:  "Um, no.  Just coffee.  I was, um...well, um...I was kind of reading to my children."

Officer:  "While driving?  Along this windy road?  Why?"

Me:  "Why was I reading to them?  Because I want them to be critical thinkers, contributing members of society, happy and knowledgeable..."

I think all mothers must hide their head in shame at some point when asked about what they do while driving--or what they also do while driving.  I once had a sore shoulder for a few weeks because I was holding Lorelei's pacifier in her mouth for 10 or 15 minutes straight.  While driving.  So embarrassing...I mean, I know that I have incredibly precious cargo, and I am even careful about how much I talk on the phone while driving, and I truly only text while at stop lights.

But the other day for some stupid reason, I thought it'd be a good idea to hold this book up so that Lorelei and Ben could see the pictures, and have Lorelei "read" it to Ben.  She knows all the words, so I only had to look at the pages once or twice to get her jump-started on a particular letter.  And there wasn't too much traffic on the super twisty-turny road we were driving on...

I know, I know.  I'll never do it again, I promise!

But this book is a must read.  We're not huge Dr. Suess followers and this book actually sat on our shelf for years because I thought it was pretty strange and annoying.  It has no story, something I almost always say is necessary for this 1ish to 4ish age group.  But what it does have is some funny, gripping rhyme with silly pictures that somehow make sense in a little mind like Lorelei's.  She and Ben both love this book, especially Z (which you recite the entire alphabet before getting to, like one crazy drum roll countdown, more exciting than a space shuttle launch); even Ben points to himself when you turn the page after asking "What begins with Z?  I do!  I am a zizzer-zazzer zuzz, as you can plainly see!"

Of course!  A zizzer-zazzer zuzz!  It is something so silly that we grown ups have difficulty appreciating the silliness of because we think we're too cool to be silly. 

Also, this is a real teach-the-alphabet book.  Lorelei is able to sound out the first letter of almost all words we throw at her these days, something that makes my husband confident in her future place in Mensa.  But I know that it is her incredibly interest in reading and all things letter-related that has helped her get to this point.  I'm not pushing it.  What's the fun in reading if there's no fun in it?

This book rocks!  We love it.  It's crazy and very suess-ish, but a must-have.