Happy Birthday To You! (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition) [School & Library Binding]

Dr. Seuss (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1999 | Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up

FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. Describes the spectacular birthday celebrations arranged by the Great Birthday Bird in Katroo

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Classic timeless appeal, presented in a new toddler-friendly format"Junior "[Dr.Seuss] has!instilled a lifelong love of books, learning and reading [in children]" The Telegraph "You can't really go wrong with Dr.Seuss" BBC Parenting "The magic of Dr.Seuss, with his hilarious rhymes, belongs on the family bookshelf" Sunday Times Magazine "It's hard to belive they've been going for a century, Dr. Seuss' magic is timeless" Father's Quarterly

From the Inside Flap

Illus. in color. "The Great Birthday Bird guides us on a birthday trip. The multicolored excursion is a festive one."--School Library Journal.   --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• School & Library Binding: 51 pages
• Publisher: Turtleback (October 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785787941
• ISBN-13: 978-0785787945
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (67 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,066,035 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

"A person's a person, no matter how small," Theodor Seuss Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss, would say. "Children want the same things we want. To laugh, to be challenged, to be entertained and delighted."

Brilliant, playful, and always respectful of children, Dr. Seuss charmed his way into the consciousness of four generations of youngsters and parents. In the process, he helped millions of kids learn to read.

Dr. Seuss was born Theodor Geisel in Springfield, Massachusetts, on March 2, 1904. After graduating from Dartmouth College in 1925, he went to Oxford University, intending to acquire a doctorate in literature. At Oxford, Geisel met Helen Palmer, whom he wed in 1927. Upon his return to America later that year, Geisel published cartoons and humorous articles for Judge, the leading humor magazine in America at that time. His cartoons also appeared in major magazines such as Life, Vanity Fair, and Liberty. Geisel gained national exposure when he won an advertising contract for an insecticide called Flit. He coined the phrase, "Quick, Henry, the Flit!" which became a popular expression.

Geisel published his first children's book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, in 1937, after 27 publishers rejected it.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1984, an Academy Award, three Emmy Awards, three Grammy Awards, and three Caldecott Honors, Geisel wrote and illustrated 44 books. While Theodor Geisel died on September 24, 1991, Dr. Seuss lives on, inspiring generations of children of all ages to explore the joys of reading.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

67 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For kids of ALL ages, August 20, 1999

By 

Greg Bulmash (Lynnwood, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Happy Birthday to You! (Hardcover)

This book isn't just for children. Its for anyone who wants to feel like a child. For my mother's 50th birthday, I got her a fairy princess crown and a fairy princess wand, then read this book aloud to all the guests as she sat holding her wand and wearing her crown. It was a lot of fun. Then I passed the book around for everyone to sign.

You don't have to be a kid to enjoy Dr. Seuss.

90 of 96 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Feeling Special!, February 20, 2001

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 110,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Happy Birthday to You! (Hardcover)

"I wish we could do what they do in Katroo . . . ." Thus begins Dr. Seuss's amazing conception of the birthday party EACH person should have.

Guided by the special brainy bird, the Birthday Honk Honker, you will find yourself in the middle of a marvelous day. You are awakened by the bird, "Wake Up! For today is your Day of all Days!" He then heads for your bed. "He knows your address . . ." and quickly comes to give you the special birthday handshake. This involves touching your right index finger with his equivalent digit while you touch your left big toe with your left index finger (while he mimics the same motion).

Throughout, Dr. Seuss makes it clear that just being born and being you is all that is required to deserve such classy treatment. "If you'd never been born, well what would you do? . . . be? Why, you might be a WASN'T."

Your day includes a trip through the Birthday Flower Jungle while being carried in a boat through the air by Funicular Goats. The flowers smell like licorice and cheese.

For lunch, you eat hot dogs, rolled out on a spool, for an endless meal. With so much mustard on you, cleaning off in a Mustard-Off pool is required.

You sing loudly, "I am lucky!"

And that's before you go to the Birthday Pal-alace with its 9,403 rooms to play games in. You get to make such a mess that it will take 20 days just to "sweep up the mess."

Then, you meet drummers, strummers, zummers, and of course, plumbers.

Dr. Derring's Singing Herrings spell out, "Happy Birthday to You."

Then, you get the most amazing cake.

And all of this because, "There is no one alive who is you-er than you."

Now, you might wonder about the wisdom of reading this book to a child. Whatever you do cannot match up. Well, Dr. Seuss thought of that point also.

As he reminds us in the end,

"So that's

What the Birthday Bird

Does in Katroo."

"And I wish

I could do

All these great things for you!"

As you can see, the book is set up to convey your deepest conviction that the honoree (usually your child) is well worth whatever the positive limits of imagination can bring. But, of course, being a mere parent, you cannot do that much. Whatever you do will naturally be received with greater enthusiasm, realizing its symbolic intent.

A fun way to use this book would be to create birthday elements that build on it. For example, you could draw a birthday palace, and buy one of those games as a gift that contains hundreds of variations in it. Then, you could attach your drawing to the gift. With good imagination, your child can feel like she or he has had such a day.

Carrying on with that theme, you could reenact other parts of the book. You could dress up like the Birthday Bird and give the handshake in the morning, for example. If it's a weekend, you could have hot dogs for lunch (if your honoree likes them). If it's a week day, you could have them for dinner. You get the idea.

There's another message here, too. Each other person deserves this princely treatment as well. That must mean that being a person is pretty special. I know of no book that stakes out such a strong statement in favor of each person. Be sure to build on this lesson to help you child learn to respect, appreciate, and eventually care about everyone!

"And I wish I could do all these great things for you!" And I do so wish.

Happy Unbirthday!

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Children's book ever, August 2, 2002

By 

Lkison (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Happy Birthday to You! (Hardcover)

I have loved this book ever since I can remember. It has positively ruined me for my birthday every year, I do absolutely nothing I don't want to do. I eat cake for breakfast if I want, and I never go to work that day. What a positive and creative book this is, it totally convinced me that everyone is worth spoiling rotten at least one day a year. And the pictures are so emotive and beautiful - that last image of the child bundled up safely on the flying platter is so comforting. Both my sons love the book and request it read often. The copy from my childhood is missing both covers now and some of the pages are separated, but we still love it!