Customer Reviews

Cat in the Hat (Dr Seuss Green Back Books)

5 star:		(168)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

Dr. Seuss was one of those rare creative geniuses who both entertained us and challenged us to open our minds. "The Cat in the Hat" is an indispensable part of the Seuss canon. A bizarre blending of Seuss's trademark illustrations with an eerily Kafkaesque plot, "Cat" will delight both children and adults.

The plot is simple: The narrator, a small boy, is left home on a rainy day with his sister Sally. But their boring day is interrupted by the Cat in the Hat, a weirdly anthropomorphic, talking feline who proceeds to turn their house into a chaotic playground. The illustrations--think Salvador Dali meets Beatrix Potter--are marvelous.

This book is simple enough for beginning readers, yet full of subtle touches that could keep an army of literary critics and psychologists busy analyzing it for decades. And that is the brilliance of Dr. Seuss. Buy a copy of the book for your favorite child, buy a second for your favorite adult, and keep a third for yourself.

I loved this as a kid, and I love it now. It's not politically correct like much childrens' literature today--and that's its charm. The children are not naughty, but they certainly get themselves into a pickle with the Id-like cat who cheerfully enters their home and wreakes havoc while their mother is out for the afternoon. Would that the Id were always so congenial! The house gets wrecked, but the cat can clean up as fast as he can make a mess, and by the time mom gets home, everything's back to normal. The last line in the book is best of all: "What would you do if your mother asked you?" No moralizing here--just a simple question. This is children's literature with a capital L....buy it for your kids, buy it for yourself if you're "all growed up."

Researchers constantly find that reading to children is valuable in a variety of ways, not least of which are instilling a love of reading and improved reading skills. With better parent-child bonding from reading, your child will also be more emotionally secure and able to relate better to others. Intellectual performance will expand as well. Spending time together watching television fails as a substitute.

To help other parents apply this advice, as a parent of four I consulted an expert, our youngest child, and asked her to share with me her favorite books that were read to her as a young child. The Cat in the Hat was one of her picks.

I have always thought of this book as a metaphor for the sort of "make believe" thinking that children like to do and are good at. The setting is a cold rainy day, and the children's mother isn't home. I have always transformed that into they are playing in their room while their mother is busy elsewhere in the house. Suddenly, a mysterious cat arrives who can do remarkable jugging (until he drops everything) and brings in a fun box (with two little creatures who fly kites). A parental voice, however, is always present in the form of the children's fish who constantly warns them to get rid of the cat in the hat.

Suddenly, the mother is spotted about to reenter the house. The children are panic-stricken. The house is a mess! What to do? They are obviously about to be really in for it. I can feel the adrenaline rushing even now as I remember similar situations with friends as a child.

But then, the cat in the hat returns with a miraculous device which cleans everything up! And then he is gone, just as their mother steps in. She asks, "Did you have any fun? Tell me. What did you do?" The two children don't know what to say. They ask you what you would do if your mother asked you.

The ending is wonderful because it sets up a wonderful opportunity to talk about the story. Would the child let in the cat in the hat? Would the child ask the cat in the hat to leave and when? Was the fish correct in warning the children? What are the other reasons not to let strangers in? Why should you tell your mother if things go awry, or not? In the course of the discussion, fears that the story probably raises can be dealt with in a constructive way that reduces fear in the future and improves communication in the family. Most children have these kinds of fears, but aren't usually willing to bring them up. So the book gives you the excuse to work on improving their security.

This is one of the more difficult Dr. Seuss books for beginning readers, so you'll be reading this one to your child for a while. The appeal to the child is very much in the idea of playing unrestrained in the house. Almost no child is allowed to do that, and the consequences are pretty funny for the child if they are happening to someone else.

If you want to see the earliest versions of the cat in the hat character, be sure to see Dr. Seuss Goes to War which documents his work as a political cartoonist in World War II.

Then, encourage your child to use the book to come up with her or his own ideas about fun things to do as make-believe on a rainy day. Can they imagine a more fun make-believe visitor than the cat in the hat? What would the visitor do? If you ask these questions, you will extend your child's imagination now and for a lifetime.

Enjoy for the rest of your life!

We like the characters in this book, especially the talking fish. The kids should never have let anyone or anything in their house while their mom was gone. It was fun to hear and to say the rhyming words and it helped us learn to read. You can read this book over and over again and it will still be fun.

What can one say about The Cat in the Hat that hasn't already been said? It's doubtful there is anyone anywhere in the US that hasn't heard of Dr. Seuss or his most famous of books The Cat in the Hat. Suffice to say this book was a classic when it was written and it remains a classic today, some fifty years later.

What you may not know about Dr. Seuss is that the good doctor was really a gentleman named Theodor Seuss Geisel. Mr. Geisel began his career as a little known editorial cartoonist in the 1920s. As his work evolved, he became known for his intriguing perspectives and fresh concepts. His works moved from basic cartooning to deft illustrations, sculptures and oil paintings that showcased his elaborate imagination. He had a unique artistic vision, and his artwork became the platform from which he delivered dozens of children's books, hundreds of political cartoons, hundreds of advertisements, and many editorials filled with wonderfully inventive animals, characters and clever humor.

With the Universal Studios movie just out, my fondness of cats and a work mate who affirmed, "if you haven't read Dr. Seuss, you have missed on one of the most wonderful childhood literary experiences"; I decided I would pick one of his books on my next visit to Borders. That was this afternoon. The result? It's simply brilliant. "The cat in the hat" presents children not only a wonderful chance for learning to read, but with the possibility of having fun at no one else's expense. When feelings don't get hurt, no one ends up unhappy. The two children enjoy what would otherwise have turned into a dull rainy day thanks to presence of the magical cat. He does make a mess of things, but in the end he knows when to stop and ...PICKS UP AFTER HIMSELF. (Young children, listen!)

The wonder of the book is not that the mom will not be upset at the mischief her children have produced when she comes back, but it lies in fact that the children have ownership of their own private world. The fun they had is their own little secret. No one knows or has to know. And the ending? Well, I can just imagine a child's face when the story gets read to them and the parent goes: "What would you do if your mother asked you?"

I could not not review this book
I could not let it be forsook
for on this day was Geisel born
that we should not be so forlorn

What would I do without the cat?
Where would I be without the hat?
I do not know, I can not say
I wouldn't want to see that day

For in this book, so short and sweet
is such, for all, a great big treat
The cat of mischief, cat of wise
Cat with gleaming knowing eyes

And of the hat!
What's up with that?
Where did those stripes come from?
Yes I know

Poor grammar, oh,
I'm really not that dum!

I would the world would know the cat
I hope the world will wear the hat
Can such a book be left alone?
Can such a tale be overblown?

I thinkest not, I thought antiquely
For this is writing most uniquely
And such will never come again
To grace the page with such a pen

To give us such unbridled joy
To please and, yes, and to annoy
But in the end to satisfy
With merriment and laughing sigh

For on this day we give our thanks
For treasure that is not in banks
But on the printed page before us
Thank you, oh dear Dr. Seuss!

------------------------

I wrote this in honour of Theodor Geisel, also known as Dr. Seuss, on the anniversary of his birthday. Using a vocabulary of a mere 223 words, 'The Cat in the Hat' has become a standard children's classic throughout the English-speaking world. I remember as a child delighting at the discovery of rhyming words and what fun they could be, and when coupled with the imaginative drawings and simple yet engaging plot lines, Dr. Seuss became my favourite almost instantly.

The plot of 'The Cat in the Hat' is simple yet meaningful. A cat, a perfect creature for exhibiting independence and mischief, is befriended by children who express delight, astonishment, and occasional disapproval of their be-hatted feline. Children learn behaviour in a humourous and touching way by relating to the children.

However, all of Seussian literature was almost not to be. Geisel had literally dozens of rejections for his early works, from publishers who doubted the appeal or the marketability. Fortunately for us, Geisel continued to pursue both writing and publication, which he continued up to the time of his death in 1991. He still had a book on the bestseller list at that time.

Long Live Dr. Seuss!

A neglectful parent, a subversive cat, a piscine Big Brother, and twin automatons.

People regard Alice In Wonderland as a shining beacon of literary nonsense, but The Cat in the Hat more than holds its own.

Illustrated in simple primary colors of red and blue, this is a book your kids will love but with which you ought to have a rather more complicated relationship. Ted was some kind of writer to spin a story so silly (in a child's eyes) and yet so deviant.

The questions that may be asked are myriad: Should Sally and her brother have called 9-1-1 the moment the Cat broke in? Why does this "Cat" wear gloves? Does ennui invite catastrophe? Why are young children home alone? Did their mother set up the entire plot? Why did Seuss choose a Darwin fish to be the eyes, ears, and mouthpiece for Big Brother? Did the circus ever find their performing cat? And perhaps, was it all a dream?

The story ends with a question reminiscent of Dr. Seuss' very first book (And to think that I saw it on Mulberry street), i.e., What would *you* do?

I bought this book for my 2yr old son and in a single sitting he could listen to the whole book read aloud to him. He found the rhymes very interesting. He quickly caught on to the phrases - that bump made us jump (and will jump saying that), what a shame (and will laugh saying this), loved the thing1 and thing2 :). Overall i am glad i could get such a book for my kid.

"In a world gone horribly wrong,full of giant mutant cats attired in fancy costumes,baring boxes full of horrendous oddities,and overly dictative talking fish...a young boy and his sister Sally,find themselves trapped,and under the spell of the want to do bad things!".....that's how the movie trailer would read anyways. In reality....this is the classic book that nearly every child,and adult should read,or have read to them. Two children left at home by their mother,on a boring rainy day,and told to behave. Enter the Cat In The Hat....who's goal in life,seems to be doing anything but behaving! The childrens goldfish is the voice of reason,but he is easily out voted,by the want to have "fun". But as we learn,fun that is without boundries,is fun that causes trouble! I remember this book as a child,and we all delighted in a Cat in a Hat,but how soon we would wish we were as smart as a fish! A great read for ALL,and a must for any childs library.