I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew
Dr. Seuss
Random House (1965)
Way back when, in my post entitled Zizzer, Zazzer, Zuzz http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8749317886050281919#editor/target=post;postID=388418645757093I3580, I talked about all our favorite Dr. Seuss books. Sadly, we completely missed out on Solla Sollew. In fact, I had never really heard of it before until Mirette got a copy for her birthday.
It now ranks as my number one all time Dr. Seuss favorite!!! In fact, I kind-of beg Mirette to let me read it to her.
Why? Well for one thing, it's super fun to read. I jumped up behind him. Then all through that day The Wubble wubbedon in a wubble-some way. The road got more bumpy, more rocky more tricky. By midnight, I tell you, my stomach felt icky.
The other reason is that it's yet another book that includes a wonderful reminder to stay in the present and appreciate what we have. We are not going to find what we are looking for in Solla Sollew On the banks of the beautiful River Wah-Hoo, Where they never have troubles! At least, very few.
Hope you have as much fun with this book as we have.
Showing posts with label Dr. Seuss. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dr. Seuss. Show all posts
Friday, June 1, 2012
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Zizzer zazzer zuzz: Part Two
I set off to be the first mom to read each and every Dr. Seuss book and I didn't even come close. Sigh.
As much as I love and admire Theodor Geisel, both Mirette and I got tired of reading Dr. Seuss every night. After a while, his books blend into one another. He definitely keeps the weird animal theme going from book to book and has a certain kind of voice and illustration that is all his own, which makes the books more fun to read in small doses.
With that said, here are some of the books we discovered that we both loved (and keep in mind Mirette is 2 1/2, so all these books get her seal of approval)! I've only included the ones you may not have heard of (not ones like One Fish. . . ).
And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street
Horton Hatches the Egg
McElligot's Pool
Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose
If I Ran the Zoo
If I Ran the Circus
Scrambled Eggs Super
Fox in Sox
and our best discovery of all, Daisy Head Maisy. It is not illustrated by Dr. Seuss. It's about a girl that has a daisy growing from her head. Now when playing outside, we put plants on our heads and say we are Daisy Head Maisy.
One other cool Dr. Seuss fact is that both The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham were written as challenges. In the case of the former, he was handed a list of words that children are supposed to know and had to create a story using only those words. He went with the first words on the list that rhymed, cat and hat. For Green Eggs and Ham, the challenge was to create a book using only fifty words. As you may be able to guess, he succeeded! Here are the words:
a, am, and, anywhere, are, be, boat, box, car, could, dark, do, eat, eggs, fox, goat, good, green, ham, here, house, I, if, in, let, like, may, me, mouse, not, on, or, rain, Sam, say, see, so, thank, that, the, them, there, they, train, tree, try, will, with, would, you.
I also stumbled upon a PBS documentary about Dr. Seuss. It's really interesting. Here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkOHQGA8hZc
As much as I love and admire Theodor Geisel, both Mirette and I got tired of reading Dr. Seuss every night. After a while, his books blend into one another. He definitely keeps the weird animal theme going from book to book and has a certain kind of voice and illustration that is all his own, which makes the books more fun to read in small doses.
With that said, here are some of the books we discovered that we both loved (and keep in mind Mirette is 2 1/2, so all these books get her seal of approval)! I've only included the ones you may not have heard of (not ones like One Fish. . . ).
And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street
Horton Hatches the Egg
McElligot's Pool
Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose
If I Ran the Zoo
If I Ran the Circus
Scrambled Eggs Super
Fox in Sox
and our best discovery of all, Daisy Head Maisy. It is not illustrated by Dr. Seuss. It's about a girl that has a daisy growing from her head. Now when playing outside, we put plants on our heads and say we are Daisy Head Maisy.
One other cool Dr. Seuss fact is that both The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham were written as challenges. In the case of the former, he was handed a list of words that children are supposed to know and had to create a story using only those words. He went with the first words on the list that rhymed, cat and hat. For Green Eggs and Ham, the challenge was to create a book using only fifty words. As you may be able to guess, he succeeded! Here are the words:
a, am, and, anywhere, are, be, boat, box, car, could, dark, do, eat, eggs, fox, goat, good, green, ham, here, house, I, if, in, let, like, may, me, mouse, not, on, or, rain, Sam, say, see, so, thank, that, the, them, there, they, train, tree, try, will, with, would, you.
I also stumbled upon a PBS documentary about Dr. Seuss. It's really interesting. Here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkOHQGA8hZc
Friday, October 14, 2011
Zizzer zazzer zuzz: Part One
What would a blog about children's books be without a few entries about good ol' Dr. Seuss? My Dr. Seuss knowledge was rather limited. I knew his name was really Theodor Geisel and that he had attended Dartmouth. I got copies of Oh the Places You'll Go for my graduation from high school, college, and grad school. Like anyone around these parts, I've read all kinds of Dr. Seuss books—everything from One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish to Horton Hears a Who. And each year I watch, and adore, The Grinch who Stole Christmas. But that's about as far as my Dr. Seuss knowledge went (key word went!).
I read two biographies on Dr. Seuss. The first, Theodor Seuss Geisel by Donald E. Pease, was pretty ho hum. The second, The Seuss, the Whole Seuss and Nothing But the Seuss by Charles D. Cohen, was filled with such minutiae that it was kind-of a cumbersome read. If you want to get the basics, I'd go straight to wikipedia for a really great overview—better and simpler than either of these books.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Seuss
I'll let you discover the biographical details yourself if so inclined and leave you with the points that jumped out at me:
1. The house in which he was born still has drawings of the fantastical animals he created adorning the walls. Can you imagine being the little kid that lives in his house?
2. He was a very successful advertising and political cartoonist, long before he became Dr. Seuss. I had NO idea. I wish Ted was alive now—we would have some amazing cartoons depicting tea party politics, occupy Wall Street, etc.
3. He is truly brilliant at what he does! In my opinion, he is a very gifted wordsmith, artist, and creator. His biggest strength, weird animals with fun names like the Foona Lagoona Baboona,
4. Although he had some racist and anti-Semitic moments, he later picked through his books, making sure they were not offensive. I find that VERY impressive. He definitely went up in my esteem as a very thoughtful man willing to make repairs and really think through situations.
5. Some of his characters have names that have become actual words, like in The Shape of Me there is a character named a Blogg. Ha ha! And Ooblek? I found the recipe in a craft book and made it for Mirette. If you haven't tried it yet, it is messy but great fun on a rainy day—just add water and corn starch. I didn't know the word came from the book Batholomew and the Oobleck. The word Nerd first appeared in If I Ran the Zoo.
6. Many of his images are used again and again—like craggy mountaintops.
7. Finally, he used to make up fantastical stories for his interviewers, never giving them a straight answer. For example, when asked how he came up with his ideas, he would say, "In a little town near Zybliknov, where I spend an occasional weekend." I imagine him being great at dealing with today's aggressive paparazzi.
8. Here's some Dr. Seuss websites for you:
Seussville is filled with information and games. It's an on-line Seuss world complete with parent information, curriculum ideas for teachers, all the characters, books, games, activities, and anything else Seuss.
http://www.seussville.com/
Some samples of his political art:
http://www.americanartarchives.com/seuss.htm
Seriously ironic, the Dr. Seuss collection is coming to Chicago and I happen to be going there for Thanksgiving—a must-see for our family!
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-10-13/entertainment/ct-ent-1013-museums-dr-seuss-20111013_1_seuss-landing-seussiana-theodor-seuss-geisel
I read two biographies on Dr. Seuss. The first, Theodor Seuss Geisel by Donald E. Pease, was pretty ho hum. The second, The Seuss, the Whole Seuss and Nothing But the Seuss by Charles D. Cohen, was filled with such minutiae that it was kind-of a cumbersome read. If you want to get the basics, I'd go straight to wikipedia for a really great overview—better and simpler than either of these books.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Seuss
I'll let you discover the biographical details yourself if so inclined and leave you with the points that jumped out at me:
1. The house in which he was born still has drawings of the fantastical animals he created adorning the walls. Can you imagine being the little kid that lives in his house?
2. He was a very successful advertising and political cartoonist, long before he became Dr. Seuss. I had NO idea. I wish Ted was alive now—we would have some amazing cartoons depicting tea party politics, occupy Wall Street, etc.
3. He is truly brilliant at what he does! In my opinion, he is a very gifted wordsmith, artist, and creator. His biggest strength, weird animals with fun names like the Foona Lagoona Baboona,
4. Although he had some racist and anti-Semitic moments, he later picked through his books, making sure they were not offensive. I find that VERY impressive. He definitely went up in my esteem as a very thoughtful man willing to make repairs and really think through situations.
5. Some of his characters have names that have become actual words, like in The Shape of Me there is a character named a Blogg. Ha ha! And Ooblek? I found the recipe in a craft book and made it for Mirette. If you haven't tried it yet, it is messy but great fun on a rainy day—just add water and corn starch. I didn't know the word came from the book Batholomew and the Oobleck. The word Nerd first appeared in If I Ran the Zoo.
6. Many of his images are used again and again—like craggy mountaintops.
7. Finally, he used to make up fantastical stories for his interviewers, never giving them a straight answer. For example, when asked how he came up with his ideas, he would say, "In a little town near Zybliknov, where I spend an occasional weekend." I imagine him being great at dealing with today's aggressive paparazzi.
8. Here's some Dr. Seuss websites for you:
Seussville is filled with information and games. It's an on-line Seuss world complete with parent information, curriculum ideas for teachers, all the characters, books, games, activities, and anything else Seuss.
http://www.seussville.com/
Some samples of his political art:
http://www.americanartarchives.com/seuss.htm
Seriously ironic, the Dr. Seuss collection is coming to Chicago and I happen to be going there for Thanksgiving—a must-see for our family!
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-10-13/entertainment/ct-ent-1013-museums-dr-seuss-20111013_1_seuss-landing-seussiana-theodor-seuss-geisel
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