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On Beyond Zebra!
If you think the alphabet stops with Z, you are wrong. So wrong. Leave it to Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell (with a little help from Dr. Seuss) to create an entirely new alphabet beginning with Z! This rhyming picture book introduces twenty new letters and the creatures that one can spell with them. Discover (and spell) such wonderfully Seussian creations as the Yuzz-a-ma-Tuzz and the High Gargel-orum. Readers young and old will be giggling from beginning to end . . . or should we say, from Yuzz to Hi!
60 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1955
About the author
Dr. Seuss
922 books17.8k followersTheodor Seuss Geisel was born 2 March 1904 in Springfield, Massachusetts. He graduated Dartmouth College in 1925, and proceeded on to Oxford University with the intent of acquiring a doctorate in literature. At Oxford he met Helen Palmer, who he wed in 1927. He returned from Europe in 1927, and began working for a magazine called Judge, the leading humor magazine in America at the time, submitting both cartoons and humorous articles for them. Additionally, he was submitting cartoons to Life, Vanity Fair and Liberty. In some of his works, he'd made reference to an insecticide called Flit. These references gained notice, and led to a contract to draw comic ads for Flit. This association lasted 17 years, gained him national exposure, and coined the catchphrase "Quick, Henry, the Flit!"
In 1936 on the way to a vacation in Europe, listening to the rhythm of the ship's engines, he came up with And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, which was then promptly rejected by the first 43 publishers he showed it to. Eventually in 1937 a friend published the book for him, and it went on to at least moderate success.
During World War II, Geisel joined the army and was sent to Hollywood. Captain Geisel would write for Frank Capra's Signal Corps Unit (for which he won the Legion of Merit) and do documentaries (he won Oscar's for Hitler Lives and Design for Death). He also created a cartoon called Gerald McBoing-Boing which also won him an Oscar.
In May of 1954, Life published a report concerning illiteracy among school children. The report said, among other things, that children were having trouble to read because their books were boring. This inspired Geisel's publisher, and prompted him to send Geisel a list of 400 words he felt were important, asked him to cut the list to 250 words (the publishers idea of how many words at one time a first grader could absorb), and write a book. Nine months later, Geisel, using 220 of the words given to him published The Cat in the Hat , which went on to instant success.
In 1960 Bennett Cerf bet Geisel $50 that he couldn't write an entire book using only fifty words. The result was Green Eggs and Ham . Cerf never paid the $50 from the bet.
Helen Palmer Geisel died in 1967. Theodor Geisel married Audrey Stone Diamond in 1968. Theodor Seuss Geisel died 24 September 1991.
Also worked under the pen name: Theo Le Sieg
In 1936 on the way to a vacation in Europe, listening to the rhythm of the ship's engines, he came up with And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, which was then promptly rejected by the first 43 publishers he showed it to. Eventually in 1937 a friend published the book for him, and it went on to at least moderate success.
During World War II, Geisel joined the army and was sent to Hollywood. Captain Geisel would write for Frank Capra's Signal Corps Unit (for which he won the Legion of Merit) and do documentaries (he won Oscar's for Hitler Lives and Design for Death). He also created a cartoon called Gerald McBoing-Boing which also won him an Oscar.
In May of 1954, Life published a report concerning illiteracy among school children. The report said, among other things, that children were having trouble to read because their books were boring. This inspired Geisel's publisher, and prompted him to send Geisel a list of 400 words he felt were important, asked him to cut the list to 250 words (the publishers idea of how many words at one time a first grader could absorb), and write a book. Nine months later, Geisel, using 220 of the words given to him published The Cat in the Hat , which went on to instant success.
In 1960 Bennett Cerf bet Geisel $50 that he couldn't write an entire book using only fifty words. The result was Green Eggs and Ham . Cerf never paid the $50 from the bet.
Helen Palmer Geisel died in 1967. Theodor Geisel married Audrey Stone Diamond in 1968. Theodor Seuss Geisel died 24 September 1991.
Also worked under the pen name: Theo Le Sieg
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 303 reviews
April 1, 2021
One of my favorite Dr. Seuss books from my childhood is now CANCELLED! It’s been withdrawn from publication with comments about it having certain (unspecified) insensitive treatment of people. Used copies now start at $250 and go up to $1000. So I went and dug around in my old stash of kids' books last night and was thrilled to find a pristine copy of this book that I bought when my kids were little.
In this 1955 Dr. Seuss book, young Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell is very proud of having learned the whole alphabet and smug in the belief that there's nothing more. But NO! says our narrator, who then leads Conrad on a trek through fantasylands, showing him wonderful creatures whose names start with letters like Humpf and Thnad. It’s a good lesson in not automatically accepting limitations, and in thinking outside of the box.
Oh, and here are apparently the pages that caused the consternation and cancelling:
... which, I can see some Orientalism here, to be fair, although the Nazzim of Bazzim on his camel-like Spazzim seems more Near Eastern than Asian, except for the building in the background. I doubt that anyone finds it horribly offensive, but it would be reasonable to say "no way" to the way these pages are drawn if this were a new book being published. But it seems to me that we need to not try to rewrite history - this is a 66 year old book - but to notice and talk about it. There are a lot worse things in, say, Shakespeare (The Merchant of Venice) and Georgette Heyer (The Grand Sophy) and I'd be against withdrawing those books from publication.
We need to learn from what's been done wrong before, not try to erase it.
And I will keep my On Beyond Zebra book and read it to my grandkids someday.
In this 1955 Dr. Seuss book, young Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell is very proud of having learned the whole alphabet and smug in the belief that there's nothing more. But NO! says our narrator, who then leads Conrad on a trek through fantasylands, showing him wonderful creatures whose names start with letters like Humpf and Thnad. It’s a good lesson in not automatically accepting limitations, and in thinking outside of the box.
Oh, and here are apparently the pages that caused the consternation and cancelling:
... which, I can see some Orientalism here, to be fair, although the Nazzim of Bazzim on his camel-like Spazzim seems more Near Eastern than Asian, except for the building in the background. I doubt that anyone finds it horribly offensive, but it would be reasonable to say "no way" to the way these pages are drawn if this were a new book being published. But it seems to me that we need to not try to rewrite history - this is a 66 year old book - but to notice and talk about it. There are a lot worse things in, say, Shakespeare (The Merchant of Venice) and Georgette Heyer (The Grand Sophy) and I'd be against withdrawing those books from publication.
We need to learn from what's been done wrong before, not try to erase it.
And I will keep my On Beyond Zebra book and read it to my grandkids someday.
October 8, 2020
The verses go on knitting a web intertwined with another web of imaginations.
The poem flows. A nice one with mellifluous words.
There are letters beyond Z. Yes, there's a whole new world out there.
Takes you to a land of an imaginary language with never before heard words that are figments of a child's imagination.
March 3, 2021
Why limit yourself? You'll stop at Z all right: zzzzzzzzzz.....
June 9, 2022
Discovered as part of my kids' Summer Reading challenge. Never even knew this one existed but it's perhaps the most fun Seuss to read aloud, with all the wacky made-up zaniness we expect from the good doctor but dialed up to 11.
4 stars, and the only reason it's not a 5 is it's a little too wild to recall exactly what's in there once the cover's closed.
EDIT: darn it, this is one of controversial titles that was in the headlines last year. I swear I didn't know and I'm not beating at some political drum. It's just fun to cry out "Yuzz-a-ma-tuzz" and "Jogg-oons" with a 5 year old in your lap. He's quite taken by the fanciful animals and honestly I doubt the humans drawn even enter into the equation. But I promise I will point out to him that this book is 60+ years old, that stereotyping is an ignorant shortcut, and that all people are extremely complex individuals not accurately portrayed in this text, and wouldn't it be grand if I didn't even have to think about this aspect of society in the first place.
4 stars, and the only reason it's not a 5 is it's a little too wild to recall exactly what's in there once the cover's closed.
EDIT: darn it, this is one of controversial titles that was in the headlines last year. I swear I didn't know and I'm not beating at some political drum. It's just fun to cry out "Yuzz-a-ma-tuzz" and "Jogg-oons" with a 5 year old in your lap. He's quite taken by the fanciful animals and honestly I doubt the humans drawn even enter into the equation. But I promise I will point out to him that this book is 60+ years old, that stereotyping is an ignorant shortcut, and that all people are extremely complex individuals not accurately portrayed in this text, and wouldn't it be grand if I didn't even have to think about this aspect of society in the first place.
Want to read
March 24, 2023
Intrigued by the Goodreads Recommendation Engine's suggestion, I asked ChatGPT if it could rewrite a verse from the Hávamál in Dr. Seuss style. It was delighted to help its fellow AI:
Original:
v.Hav.35
Ganga skal,
skala gestr vera
ey í einum stað;
ljúfr verðr leiðr
ef lengi sitr
annars fletjum á.
A guest must depart again on his way,
Nor stay in the same place ever;
If he bide too long on another’s bench,
The loved one soon becomes loathed.
Dr. Seuss style:
A guest must go, can't stay, oh no,
New paths to tread and places to grow;
If he sits too long on another's chair,
The once-beloved becomes a bear.
March 29, 2021
Having mastered the twenty-six letters of the English alphabet, Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell is surprised to discover that there are other letters out there, beyond Z. Guided by the narrator, who steps in to share this amazing information, he learns about such letters as the Yuzz, used to spell Yuzz-a-ma-Tuzz; or the Thnad, used to spell Thnadners. Following along on a journey of enchanted discovery, Conrad Cornelius learns nineteen new letters, and meets nineteen unusual new creatures, realizing that there is so much to be found, beyond the letter Z...
Originally published in 1955, On Beyond Zebra was Dr. Seuss' eleventh picture-book, published the year after Scrambled Eggs Super! and Horton Hears a Who! With its catalogue of fantastic fictional creatures, it is reminiscent of earlier Seuss titles like Scrambled Eggs Super! , as well as If I Ran the Zoo and McElligot's Pool . With its alphabetic element however, it is also unlike these earlier books, and does something wonderful and new, introducing the idea, through a wild and wacky story, that there are other kinds of letters, and by extension, other sorts of writing systems out there, beyond the one that young children might know. I never encountered this one as a child - something I now regret - and picked it up as part of my recently undertaken Dr. Seuss retrospective, in which I plan to read and review all forty-four of his classic picture-books, in chronological publication order. It is a project that I began as an act of personal protest against the suppression of six of the author/artist's titles - this one, as well as And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street , McElligot's Pool , If I Ran the Zoo , Scrambled Eggs Super! and The Cat's Quizzer - by Dr. Seuss Enterprises, because they contain outdated and potentially offensive elements.
As a young girl who had a fascination with languages and writing systems, a girl who created her own make-believe kingdom with its own history and elaborate customs, I would have adored On Beyond Zebra!. As it happens, I too created my own letters, just like Dr. Seuss, and my kingdom (Arcania) had its own language, with its own alphabet. Sadly, I have lost all my papers from that period in my life, but I recall that I enjoyed creating the rather ornate letters in my writing system, which was modeled on the Latin alphabet, but which used very different characters to represent upper and lower case letters, and long and short forms of the vowels. Reading this picture-book reminded me of the pleasure I took in creating my own language as a girl, and how that imaginative play led to my interest in real-world languages as an adult. I got a real thrill, therefore, reading this tale of another child discovering such wonders, and perusing the letters Dr. Seuss created, beyond Z:
In thinking of why Dr. Seuss Enterprises chose to suppress this title, I must conclude that it is owing to the letter Spazz, used to spell Spazzim, a camel-like creature ridden by the Nazzim of Bazzim. This fellow looks to be Middle-Eastern, in a sort of vague way - the camel-riding, the headdress - and is no doubt interpreted by critics as an example of Orientalism. For my part, while I see that the depiction is a caricature - something upon which all of Seuss' work rests - I did not perceive anything hateful in it. If anything, it felt like a reference to stories like Aladdin , or other tales from The Arabian Nights . I would imagine that any number of western retellings of the latter could also be accused of Orientalism, so let's hope these self-styled arbiters of morality don't come for those classic stories as well. It strikes me as such a deep shame, that a book like this, which could lead children naturally and creatively into a better awareness of the richness of human language, and of the writing systems of the world, should be suppressed because of one arguably offensive caricature. It is ironic that, in taking steps to (in their own imagination) defend other cultures and peoples, these critics have decided to oppose a story that could be used to teach young children an appreciation for the linguistic diversity of our world, and for the cultural diversity from which it springs. Then again, these people really aren't defenders of culture (their own or anyone else's) at all, but architects of a new uni-culture, to be enforced through bullying and character assassination. One need only look at the specious accusations of far-right racism lobbed at any reader who opposes this move on the part of Dr. Seuss Enterprises, by some of our commentariat, as well as by private citizens online, to see that this is true.
Joshua T. Katz, a professor of linguistics at Princeton University who teaches a freshman seminar entitled "Wordplay: A Wry Plod from Babel to Scrabble" - a course which includes both On Beyond Zebra and James Joyce's Finnegans Wake on its syllabus - concludes in his recent article in The New Criterion, that this recent censorious move by Dr. Seuss Enterprises is a form of madness. I quite agree.
Originally published in 1955, On Beyond Zebra was Dr. Seuss' eleventh picture-book, published the year after Scrambled Eggs Super! and Horton Hears a Who! With its catalogue of fantastic fictional creatures, it is reminiscent of earlier Seuss titles like Scrambled Eggs Super! , as well as If I Ran the Zoo and McElligot's Pool . With its alphabetic element however, it is also unlike these earlier books, and does something wonderful and new, introducing the idea, through a wild and wacky story, that there are other kinds of letters, and by extension, other sorts of writing systems out there, beyond the one that young children might know. I never encountered this one as a child - something I now regret - and picked it up as part of my recently undertaken Dr. Seuss retrospective, in which I plan to read and review all forty-four of his classic picture-books, in chronological publication order. It is a project that I began as an act of personal protest against the suppression of six of the author/artist's titles - this one, as well as And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street , McElligot's Pool , If I Ran the Zoo , Scrambled Eggs Super! and The Cat's Quizzer - by Dr. Seuss Enterprises, because they contain outdated and potentially offensive elements.
As a young girl who had a fascination with languages and writing systems, a girl who created her own make-believe kingdom with its own history and elaborate customs, I would have adored On Beyond Zebra!. As it happens, I too created my own letters, just like Dr. Seuss, and my kingdom (Arcania) had its own language, with its own alphabet. Sadly, I have lost all my papers from that period in my life, but I recall that I enjoyed creating the rather ornate letters in my writing system, which was modeled on the Latin alphabet, but which used very different characters to represent upper and lower case letters, and long and short forms of the vowels. Reading this picture-book reminded me of the pleasure I took in creating my own language as a girl, and how that imaginative play led to my interest in real-world languages as an adult. I got a real thrill, therefore, reading this tale of another child discovering such wonders, and perusing the letters Dr. Seuss created, beyond Z:
In thinking of why Dr. Seuss Enterprises chose to suppress this title, I must conclude that it is owing to the letter Spazz, used to spell Spazzim, a camel-like creature ridden by the Nazzim of Bazzim. This fellow looks to be Middle-Eastern, in a sort of vague way - the camel-riding, the headdress - and is no doubt interpreted by critics as an example of Orientalism. For my part, while I see that the depiction is a caricature - something upon which all of Seuss' work rests - I did not perceive anything hateful in it. If anything, it felt like a reference to stories like Aladdin , or other tales from The Arabian Nights . I would imagine that any number of western retellings of the latter could also be accused of Orientalism, so let's hope these self-styled arbiters of morality don't come for those classic stories as well. It strikes me as such a deep shame, that a book like this, which could lead children naturally and creatively into a better awareness of the richness of human language, and of the writing systems of the world, should be suppressed because of one arguably offensive caricature. It is ironic that, in taking steps to (in their own imagination) defend other cultures and peoples, these critics have decided to oppose a story that could be used to teach young children an appreciation for the linguistic diversity of our world, and for the cultural diversity from which it springs. Then again, these people really aren't defenders of culture (their own or anyone else's) at all, but architects of a new uni-culture, to be enforced through bullying and character assassination. One need only look at the specious accusations of far-right racism lobbed at any reader who opposes this move on the part of Dr. Seuss Enterprises, by some of our commentariat, as well as by private citizens online, to see that this is true.
Joshua T. Katz, a professor of linguistics at Princeton University who teaches a freshman seminar entitled "Wordplay: A Wry Plod from Babel to Scrabble" - a course which includes both On Beyond Zebra and James Joyce's Finnegans Wake on its syllabus - concludes in his recent article in The New Criterion, that this recent censorious move by Dr. Seuss Enterprises is a form of madness. I quite agree.
December 27, 2020
One reason why Dr. Seuss remains a favorite among children is they look and read full of whimsy and fun. The children may miss that they can be subversive. Specifically, Dr. Seuss is rarely about teaching some lesson. Life the good doctor say is about living and imagining. Lessons can resume in a few minutes for now let it go and giggle.
On Beyond Zebra is a non-sense book. Smarty pants Conrad Cornelius O’Donald o’Dell is so sure of himself. He knows all 26 letters of the alphabet and there is nothing left to learn. I (the reader) know better. I am not going to just belittle the little boy with his black tie, tied just so. His hair properly cut and combed. The child has it pat from A Apple through R rat to the end of the job, Z Zebra. I know better because I can imagine more.
So I will lead the young know it all into a fun place of silliness and wonder. Of places and animals not thought of by young Conrad Cornelius o’Donald o’Dell.
Hang on there is much to see, little to learn except that there is life beyond, and on beyond Zebra.
On Beyond Zebra is a non-sense book. Smarty pants Conrad Cornelius O’Donald o’Dell is so sure of himself. He knows all 26 letters of the alphabet and there is nothing left to learn. I (the reader) know better. I am not going to just belittle the little boy with his black tie, tied just so. His hair properly cut and combed. The child has it pat from A Apple through R rat to the end of the job, Z Zebra. I know better because I can imagine more.
So I will lead the young know it all into a fun place of silliness and wonder. Of places and animals not thought of by young Conrad Cornelius o’Donald o’Dell.
Hang on there is much to see, little to learn except that there is life beyond, and on beyond Zebra.
August 29, 2015
In a multiverse of interpretations, here is another one. Opens with two mutants: Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell, a kid with a comb-over, and the narrator, some weirdo who has a fascination for buttocks. On panel one, Weirdo touches his buttocks while some mangy mutt that snuck into the classroom looks on. In panel two we learn that Conrad is a know-it-all while Weirdo leans in for a good look at the zebra's buttocks.
October 21, 2021
I came across this book today while at work; I work at a library, for those who don't know. I don't recall this one from when I was a kid, but, my curiosity was piqued...and this was a fun one!
February 28, 2018
This book influenced my life more than any other book I read in my first reading years. It told me that I could color outside the lines. It told me that there existed a completely unknown world outside of my limited experience, and that I could discover that world and look forward to amazing adventures.
Will this book offend some people? Yes, of course it will, as it makes children think for themselves and reconsider the limits that they assume are fixed and immobile. That may be a good thing and a bad thing. The book doesn't stand as the icon of perfection, but the ideas it presents made a huge difference in my young mind.
In some ways this book reminds me of the forbidden fruit from the Garden of Eden, and has similar benefits and problems. The knowledge of things beyond our experience brings hard work, pain and disappointment, and maybe even death, just as that fruit did, but it also brings life, love, discovery and adventure.
Or maybe the book is just a funny collection of strange drawings and verse that confuses young minds trying to memorize things and parrot them back to an instructor. What do you think?
Will this book offend some people? Yes, of course it will, as it makes children think for themselves and reconsider the limits that they assume are fixed and immobile. That may be a good thing and a bad thing. The book doesn't stand as the icon of perfection, but the ideas it presents made a huge difference in my young mind.
In some ways this book reminds me of the forbidden fruit from the Garden of Eden, and has similar benefits and problems. The knowledge of things beyond our experience brings hard work, pain and disappointment, and maybe even death, just as that fruit did, but it also brings life, love, discovery and adventure.
Or maybe the book is just a funny collection of strange drawings and verse that confuses young minds trying to memorize things and parrot them back to an instructor. What do you think?
August 20, 2020
I'mma read all the books if Dr. Seuss! Getting ready for the marathon ahah
March 3, 2021
Esse é um dos livros do Dr Seuss que não serão mais publicados por serem "problemáticos", mas não tenho a mínima ideia do porquê, não encontrei nada que pudesse ferir as suscetibilidades de quaisquer pessoas.
August 5, 2022
Despite the fact that Dr. Seuss' estate has decided to retire this book from sales forever (for the very dumb reason that one of the characters of the book *might*, with a ton of fantasy, be considered "racist"), On Beyond Zebra! is a children's classic that teaches to go beyond the conventions - and the creatures invented by Dr. Seuss are incredibly funny.
Just get it, or even download it, and see with your own eyes if this is some kind of "racist" book - I guarantee, it isn't.
STYLING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
ORIGINALITY: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
FUN: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
EDUCATIONAL: ⭐⭐⭐
IMPORTANCE: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Just get it, or even download it, and see with your own eyes if this is some kind of "racist" book - I guarantee, it isn't.
STYLING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
ORIGINALITY: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
FUN: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
EDUCATIONAL: ⭐⭐⭐
IMPORTANCE: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
October 21, 2023
Occasionally I like to enjoy the rhyming beauty of the English language
June 23, 2019
back cover-If you think the alphabet stops with Z, you are wrong. So wrong. Leave it to Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell (with a little help from Dr. Seuss) to create an entirely new alphabet beginning with Z! This rhyming picture book introduces twenty new letters and the creatures that one can spell with them. Discover (and spell) such wonderfully Seussian creations as the Yuzz-a-ma-Tuzz and the High Gargel-orum. Readers young and old will be giggling from beginning to end . . . or should we say, from Yuzz to Hi!
February 21, 2016
You can't beat Dr Seuss for a great story. I'm not sure where he comes up with the ideas and words but I love them just as much as an adult reading them to my grandson as I did reading them as a kid. Highly recommended to anyone that still has a kid trapped in them
March 4, 2021
A kooky and imaginative story about two boys exploring beyond the alphabet and make new letters and what types of people and animals they associate with. There’s no shortage of Seuss’ beautifully outlandish creatures. A (100%/Outstanding)
April 1, 2021
#34 of 2021
March 5, 2021
This book should have an 'aberrant pronunciation of the letter Z' warning for readers outside of the US. Or it could be banned. Either way it would prevent small children from having to puzzle over lines such as "And I said, "You can stop, if you want, with the Z/Because most people stop with the Z/But not me" which obviously don't rhyme.
March 28, 2021
(Originally put a review of a different Dr. Seuss book here. Oops.)
I thought this book was simply silly and good for some laughs. An alphabet beyond the letter Z. How creative and fun for kids. Except… not anymore. Why don’t we just teach what could be seen as wrong today in the content of books written in the past?
I am totally against banning or censoring any books. Educate readers about books that have issues in terms of modern times, but to completely take books out of print, which over time will ban them, due to things of a controversial nature being found in them, only buries the whole conversation. Besides, the fastest way to encourage many readers to read a book is to try taking away access to the title.
I thought this book was simply silly and good for some laughs. An alphabet beyond the letter Z. How creative and fun for kids. Except… not anymore. Why don’t we just teach what could be seen as wrong today in the content of books written in the past?
I am totally against banning or censoring any books. Educate readers about books that have issues in terms of modern times, but to completely take books out of print, which over time will ban them, due to things of a controversial nature being found in them, only buries the whole conversation. Besides, the fastest way to encourage many readers to read a book is to try taking away access to the title.
December 29, 2010
As a kid I loved weird words and other linguistic hijinx, and so it's no surprise that On Beyond Zebra was on the short list of favorite Seuss books. After rereading it just now, I realized that it was special in one other way: perhaps more than any other of the master's works, it spurred me to creativity (just like Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell in the story!). Looking back with my jaded, myopic grown-up eye, I can see that the new letters beyond Z are simple amalgamations of ordinary Roman letters, but at the time I was transfixed (and highly amused) by the bizarre shapes custom-made to name exotic animals. (What did Dr. Seuss have against plants, anyway? Are they too sessile and boring for kids?) Years later I was still making up new letters for words the brother and I had invented.
An aside: To this day I cannot hear the word grotto without thinking of the Yekko singing away, down in his dim cave beneath branching Gothic arches.
An aside: To this day I cannot hear the word grotto without thinking of the Yekko singing away, down in his dim cave beneath branching Gothic arches.
Read
February 25, 2021Still my most favorite Seuss book. I vividly remember checking it out from the school library in kindergarten and being amazed at how amazing it was--it's only taken me 20 years to finally purchase a copy for myself!
Many of these critters remind me of lumberjack's fearsome and legendary creatures, especially the Wumbus, which is halfway to a slide-rock bolter, and that made me quite happy.
I also personally relate to the Quandary, at least up to a point. Although, this is the ONE illustration that I feel like was different in the earlier version I read? No underwater scene with the kids, rather just a giant Quandary on the left page against black or blue, and the story on the right page. Maybe I'm confusing it with another story.
REGARDLESS, this is the bestest Seuss for my use.
Many of these critters remind me of lumberjack's fearsome and legendary creatures, especially the Wumbus, which is halfway to a slide-rock bolter, and that made me quite happy.
I also personally relate to the Quandary, at least up to a point. Although, this is the ONE illustration that I feel like was different in the earlier version I read? No underwater scene with the kids, rather just a giant Quandary on the left page against black or blue, and the story on the right page. Maybe I'm confusing it with another story.
REGARDLESS, this is the bestest Seuss for my use.
September 2, 2008
I believe I had this memorized by the time I was three. When my little brother was old enough, I got to recite it to him. I didn't need the pages for the words, just the pictures.
July 3, 2013
Seuss is so better than awesome, this book is Yeezatz and WayWasum!! Every kid deserves to read this book, and every adult right with them!
March 23, 2021
Even good old Dr. Seuss's zany imagination
could not have ever thunk a place as crazy as our nation.
Where decent folks, quite sane in fact, upon one knee quite bended
Fear the cry of "racist!" from the perpetually offended.
Who scream and swear and stamp their feet at everyone else's sins;
They cannot create, they only destroy, so do not let them win!
So I can get why people think that And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street is racist. I personally don't think it's racist, but "a Chinese man who eats with sticks" is admittedly pretty insensitive. But this book? Seriously? You do realize that there is no place called "Bazzim," and that the "Nazzim of Bazzim" is an entirely fictional, even Seussian creation, right?
I speak Arabic. I have lived in and traveled across the Middle East. I know more about and am more personally connected to the culture that supposedly was offended here than most, if not all, of the people calling for its cancellation. I can tell you right now, the Arabs are a very proud people, and they would be far more offended by the thought that they need to be protected from the cultural insensitivity of Dr. Seuss than they are from this book itself.
And with good reason. We are living in a moral panic over "racism," "whiteness," and "white supremacy" that will, in the fullness of time, be viewed with the same contempt and horror that we hold for the Salem witch trials and the red scare of McCarthyism. Sadly, I fear that the digital book burning is only just getting started.
could not have ever thunk a place as crazy as our nation.
Where decent folks, quite sane in fact, upon one knee quite bended
Fear the cry of "racist!" from the perpetually offended.
Who scream and swear and stamp their feet at everyone else's sins;
They cannot create, they only destroy, so do not let them win!
So I can get why people think that And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street is racist. I personally don't think it's racist, but "a Chinese man who eats with sticks" is admittedly pretty insensitive. But this book? Seriously? You do realize that there is no place called "Bazzim," and that the "Nazzim of Bazzim" is an entirely fictional, even Seussian creation, right?
I speak Arabic. I have lived in and traveled across the Middle East. I know more about and am more personally connected to the culture that supposedly was offended here than most, if not all, of the people calling for its cancellation. I can tell you right now, the Arabs are a very proud people, and they would be far more offended by the thought that they need to be protected from the cultural insensitivity of Dr. Seuss than they are from this book itself.
And with good reason. We are living in a moral panic over "racism," "whiteness," and "white supremacy" that will, in the fullness of time, be viewed with the same contempt and horror that we hold for the Salem witch trials and the red scare of McCarthyism. Sadly, I fear that the digital book burning is only just getting started.
August 28, 2021
3 stars & 3/10 hearts. This was a silly little book, fun to read. It reminded me of Scrambled Eggs Super!.
Content: one “gee-whizz.”
Content: one “gee-whizz.”
May 30, 2024
A book I loved as a child and my children love now
June 13, 2021
NOTHING racist in this book either. Are these people saying this on crack?
May 6, 2021
Silly story
May 24, 2011
After a short break, we are once again picking up from where we left off on our Dr. Seuss library marathon. This is a wonderful book to encourage an active imagination. My 4-year-old enjoyed it more than my 6-year-old, which is funny since he can not yet read as his brother does.
I do not remember reading this when I was a child but I know I would have loved it. It makes me think of the inital stirrings I felt when I first read Tolkien and the language he created.
I do not remember reading this when I was a child but I know I would have loved it. It makes me think of the inital stirrings I felt when I first read Tolkien and the language he created.
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