Beyond the Cat and the Hat – Dr. Seuss Treasures Everyone should Know

There are Lots of Seuss Treasures Beyond that Rascal of a Cat!

The scampish and memorable Cat in the Hat needs to be part of everyone’s reading – even if you are not a kid. Or a cat

But Dr. Seuss wrote all kinds of great books and it would be a treasure if they are not known.

This Nugget will explore all of these great books, and give you an introduction into all of Dr. Seuss’s library.

Dr. Seuss wrote over 60 books – so this article just touches a few of them. But I hope that it serves to remind you of the wide world of Dr. Seuss – for your kids, or for you when you just feel playful.

Dr. Seuss’s First Book – And to Think that I saw it on Mulberry Street

“And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street” by our favorite doctor was the first book Dr. Seuss wrote for children. Can you imagine what it would have been like for kids if he didn’t? Thank goodness that he published it and it started the trend!

If you are a writer, you may have experienced some frustration and rejection. But take heart this book was rejected by approximately 27 publishers before Vantage Press realized what a jewel it was!

If it wasn’t for this book we would not have the Cat in the Hat, the Grinch would not threaten to steal Christmas, and big, silly Horton wouldn’t be protecting his precious Who’s.

“And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street” is about a little boy taking a walk. Along the way, he sees a multitude of wonders and fantastical beasts. However when his father asks about him, he gives a mundane rendering, keeping his wondrous imaginary world to himself. This book is a reminder to adults to cherish the imagination within each child – and ourselves. I love this book – and Dr. Seuss!

And to Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street

Lookin Out my Back Door – By Credence Clearwater Revival

Based on And to think I saw it on Mulberry Street

There were many wild guesses about what caused Credence Clearwater Revival to write “Lookin’ out my Back Door” – including that the song was actually drug related, and the writers were seeing hallucinations. But the truth of the matter was that it was much more innocent – this song was written by the band’s lead guitarist John Fogarty for his three year old son, Josh. And it was based on Dr. Seuss’s book – “And to think I saw it on Mulberry Street”.

Hop on Pop

Dr. Seuss’s Book for Youngest Readers

Hop on Pop (I Can Read It All By Myself)

This Dr. Seuss book is especially dear to my heart because it was my sons first book. My precocious older son actually read it to his little brother.

In this delightful book , young children will be introduced to rhyming words – like Hop on Pop, Mouse and House, Tall and Small and more. Your children will learn that as the letters are manipulated they will be having even more words.

As they bounce around the bed – these silly Seuss creatures are funny, and reading this to your children is a great way to teach them to learn to read – and they will beg you to repeat it.

Hop on Pop

Everyone loves “Hop on Pop” – even rappers like Ice Phoenix.

A Collection of Some of the Best Dr. Seuss Books.

A library of Classic Case of Dr. Seuss 20 books Collection box set

Here is a collection of some of the best books from Dr. Seuss.

Horton Hears the Who

Horton Hatches the Egg

Horton Hears a Who!Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!Horton Hatches the Egg

“‘Should I put this speck down?’

Horton thought with alarm,

If I do these small persons

May come to great harm.

I can’t put it down.

And I won’t. After all

A person’s a person

No matter how small.”

Horton is one of Dr. Seuss’s most famous characters. This giant lovable elephant has a gift for taking care of little people. Horton hears a Who, and decides to protect them. – tiny people that no one can even hear.

Horton has been the source of controversy, because the story has been interpreted as an anti-abortion them. Seuss’s widow’s has protested that, and according to Seuss biographer Phil Nel, Geisel threatened to sue an anti-abortion rights group during the 1980s that used the statement on its stationery, forcing them to back down.

It seems that Horton was meant to be a protector of the little – and we can all use a bit of that.

In 2008 Blue Sky Productions came out with a marvelous animated film – with such stellar performers as Carol Burnett, Jim Carey and Will Arnett as the voices. Well worth a family film night.

“Horton Hatches the Egg” was the first Horton book, and it introduced us to the Horton character. We see Horton being duped by the Mayzie bird to sit on her egg for “just a few hours” while she actually flies away to Palm Beach for a would be permanent vacation. After many perils, the egg finally hatches – and it turns out to be an elephant bird with Horton as the proud father!

Grinch who Stole Christmas

How the Grinch Stole ChristmasHow the Grinch Stole Christmas!

The Grinch is one of Dr. Seuss’s most famous characters – both in the originals and in the many remakes of the tale of a creature so evil he wanted to steal Christmas.

Kids Love to Read

Thank the Good Doctor that we Don’t have to rely on Dick and Jane!

Theodor Seuss Geisel – Dr. Seuss loved helping kids read. It is said that one reason for his cartoon style was to make reading more fun than Dick and Jane.

Dr. Seuss’ Sleep book

Like a Lullaby

Dr Seuss’s Sleep Book Hardcover

Little babies don’t sleep through the night, and it is silly to imagine that they will. Their stomachs are very small and they need to nurse frequently to be properly fed. We need to support our families so that mothers especially can help by nursing the baby through the night, and dads can help out by rocking the baby and giving general comfort.

There have been different waves of attempting to force babies to sleep by ignoring their crying. Americans in particular are very afraid of dependency, but it is appropriate for an infant to be dependent. And you can miss something too – a friend of mine has a little boy who has damaged hearing now because he had too many ignored cries; he had an ear infection the doctors were missing.

And when your child gets older, sometimes you will miss those times in the wee hours of night with your sweet baby. Still it is nice to get a little sleep!

“The Sleep Book” is one of my all-time favorite children’s books. That’s because one of my favorite memories was of tucking my kids to bed after I read them a story. This wonderful bedtime ritual meant that no matter how hectic the day was, there would be a restful time for all of us to be a family – at bedtime.

The difference between adults and children is that adults like to sleep! People worry about babies sleeping but actually it is the parents we need to worry about.

But the bedtime rituals helped make it easier and more peaceful. And of course Dr. Seuss wove his magic to make even the most rowdy children want to go to sleep. With Dr Seuss’s Sleep Book bedtimes will be much more peaceful. Thanks so much Dr. Seuss!

The Butter Battle Book

” The Butter Battle Book” was written by Theodor Seuss Geisel – aka Dr. Seuss – as a pointed criticism of the Cold War hostilities between the United States and Russia in the 1950’s through 1980’s.

The Cold War could have brought about World War Three, with horrendous consequences for the whole planet Earth.

Dr. Seuss deals with this serious matter in his traditional delightful way: Dr. Seuss creates two silly, silly peoples: the Yooks and the Zooks – who have a silly conflict with almost devastating results.

Their argument is about which side of the bread to butter. Can you believe it?

I wonder if modern people ever have silly fights like that?

The Butter Battle Book

We don’t expect Dr. Seuss to be an adult author but I think that The Butter Battle Book proves that Dr. Seuss is not just an author for kids, but his work has a lot to say to adults as well.

The Zooks and the Yooks are willing to fight with each other in increasingly dangerously ways about how to eat buttered bread – almost leading to their mutual destruction.

Dr. Seuss takes on intolerance and retaliation – two of his favorite themes in this accessible satire published in the height of the Cold War in 1984.

This is a great satire, and funny too. It just shows more the breadth of Dr. Seuss’s work.
Buy Now

The Butter Battle Book: (New York Times Notable Book of the Year) (Classic Seuss)

The Butter Battle Book Read Aloud

The Lost Dr. Seuss Books

Horton and the Kwuggerbug and The Bippolo Seed

The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost StoriesThe Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories Audio CDHorton and the Kwuggerbug and More Lost Stories

Even after his death – we found Dr. Seuss treasures!

These stories were originally published in magazines in the early 1950s, bu they had never been released to the public! The stories were discovered by Charles D. Cohen, a Massachusetts dentist and a Seuss scholar and biographer, who also wrote an introduction to the collection.

The first of the two is “The Bippolo Seed” – the tale of a scheming cat leads a duck toward a bad decision – and 6 other new to you tales including “Steak for Supper” (in which fantastic creatures follow a boy home in anticipation of a steak dinner), “The Strange Shirt Spot” (the inspiration for the bathtub-ring scene in The Cat in the Hat Comes Back), and some delightful extras.

What’s better than a lost treasure? Seven lost treasures! These rarely seen Dr. Seuss stories were published in magazines in the early 1950s and are finally available in book form. They include “The Bippolo Seed” (in which ), “The Rabbit, the Bear, and the Zinniga-Zanniga” (about a rabbit who is saved from a bear by a single eyelash), “Gustav, the Goldfish” (an early rhymed version of the Beginner Book A Fish Out of Water), “Tadd and Todd” (about a twin who is striving to be an individual), “Steak for Supper” (in which fantastic creatures follow a boy home in anticipation of a steak dinner), “The Strange Shirt Spot” (the inspiration for the bathtub-ring scene in The Cat in the Hat Comes Back), and “The Great Henry McBride” (about a boy whose far-flung career fantasies are bested only by those of Dr. Seuss himself).

In the books introduction Charles D. Cohen traces the history of the stories, which give us some signs of how he moved to the style we got to love. Cohen also explored some of the most well-known Seuss themes.
Cohen also explores the themes that recur in well-known Seuss stories (like the importance of the imagination or the perils of greed). You will be treated to brighter colors than when Seuss first published these stories in the newspapers.

I also offered up the audio version of this book. And with voice overs by such actors as Neil Patrick Harris, you will definitely find it entertaining.

The second book of new stories is “Horton and the Kwuggerbug and More Lost Stories” Here we will see more of Horton the Elephant, Mulberry Street, and the Grinch as other wonderful stories. The collection will be rounded out by more information about Dr. Seuss, by the renowned Seuss scholar C. Cohen

Both of these books will round out the collection of any Seuss fan!

ABC By Dr. Seuss – the Fun Way to Learn your Alphabet!

The night before I started the first grade I anxiously went to my parents and with great consternation I told them “I am scared because I don’t know my alphabet.” My father kindly told me “I think there will be lots of children there who do not know their alphabet..”

That was true of course, but it didn’t have to be – if my folks had known about Dr. Seuss’s ABC: An Amazing Alphabet Book!

This book by Dr. Seuss is definitely the most fun way that I know of to teach and learn the alphabet. Dr. Seuss combined his inimitable art and characters with a strong phonetic teaching of the alphabet to make it unforgettable and well – really fun! I think the best way to learn the alphabet is to have a loved one read this to book to the young children in their lives – over and over again, and to reinforce it with playing the CD’s.

This book and the CD’s that are available is one of the best ways of learning to read.

Dr. Seuss’s ABC (Beginner Books, I Can Read It All By Myself)Dr. Seuss ABC Cards

A 4 Year old Reads Dr. Seuss’s ABC book.

Here is a sweet little three year old reading the alphabet book. If you doubt it – just know that MY son read at 4 years of age.

I hope you take some of the suggestions I have provided to introduce yourself to the world beyond Dr. Seuss beyond the Cat in the Hat!

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