Customer Reviews

Daisy-Head Mayzie

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Sweet little Mayzie represents a dream all of us have had at one time -- to be popular or famous, to be unique. Reading her story gives kids a chance to explore this issue of popularity/fame and whether or not one must sacrifice something to achieve that status. After reading the book, kids can discuss this with parents or within a group of classmates. Fabulous book. <P>I also recommend THE LORAX for discussion on environmental issues.

Hands down, this is my daughter's *favorite* Seuss book. At 3 & 1/2, she can practically recite it word for word. I was saddened to see the other negative reviews about the book, because I like the message in it - 1) Your family & friends will always love you, and 2) Fame isn't all it's cracked up to be. The book can be the spark for some interesting & thoughtful conversations on values.

I love this book because it is funny, and exciting. It is easy to read and it made me laugh. T.J. (4th Grader)

I grew up with Dr Seuss and I learned to read by reading Dr Seuss. This book is one of my favorites. I can read this book over and over to my children and all of my children enjoy it (ages 6, 4, and 2). I have both sexes - 2 girls and 1 boy (4). My 6-year old reads this book on her own and we check this book out every time we go to the library. I am now ordering our on copy but could not believe the reviews; therefore, I decided to write my own review because I find this book so delightful and refreshing.

Daisy-Head Mayzie is a posthumous book, published in 1994 after Dr. Suess' death in 1991. It's the story of a girl who sprouts a daisy on her head and has to deal with a series of adults who worry over the flower, or try to get rid of it or exploit it.

Several elements in the book seem to draw on, or pay homage to, the rest of the Seuss canon. Mayzie looks like an older version of Sally from The Cat in the Hat, her last name is McGrew, like Gerald McGrew in If I Ran the Zoo, and her trouble calls to mind other Seuss protagonists with noggin-related troubles, like Bartholomew Cubbins and his 500 hats, and Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose who carries around an increasing number of animals who take up residence in his antlers. Miss Sneetcher, Mayzie's teacher, may be a reference to The Sneetches, and the school principal Mr Grumm is praised with the exact same terms as Mr. Brown from Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? And then of course, there's the Cat himself. He shares the front cover with Mayzie and appears on six of the book's pages, but he's narrating, not causing cat-mischief. It's nice to see the Cat in the Hat, but there isn't any particular thing about the narration that makes it seem like the Cat is the one talking.

The story and artwork aren't quite what Seuss fans are used to. 'A couple of the story's pages end on an unrhymed line, which is unusual for Dr. Seuss, and some of the lines also break with his strict metrical rules and follow different beats. The illustrations are all based on sketches from his notebook, but Mayzie and the Cat look the most authentic, and a few of the characters like Finagle and the Florist are rendered in a very different art style.

One really great thing about the book, though, is how well the daisy emotes. It looks victorious, depressed, concerned, etc, all from variations in its sprouting angle and the curve of its leaves, which is a pretty nice artistic feat. I only wish we knew how Mayzie felt about her situation. It's hard to know if Mayzie likes her new adornment or if she wishes it would go away, because she never says what she's thinking and the narration doesn't mention how she's feeling until close to the end of the story.


The adults in the book get increasingly agitated about the daisy, and everyone has a different solution for getting rid of it until Finagle the Agent decides that Mayzie's oddity is marketable. But where so many Seuss books offer social commentary or deliver an open-ended moral, Mayzie's moral comes as a surprise. After Mayzie's daisy-head makes her a multimedia success, we read these lines:

"But what is money without friends?
A dream had led her far astray.
That was the price she had to pay."

The trouble with this moral about money being worthless without friends is that Mayzie wasn't shown to have friends before she became famous, and while she's famous, she's not shown acting unkind or self-important. If she had abandoned her friends for the opportunity to get rich, then the moral might work. But anyway, Mayzie runs away from her life of fame and is convinced that all the people she knows will reject her for being selfish. She tells herself that nobody loves her, and the daisy tries to cheer her up by dropping its petals in a game of "They Love Me, They Love Me Not," to prove to her that she's still wanted. Mayzie returns home to her family and her studies and the daisy goes away. The Cat says it does still sprout up every now and again, but Mayzie doesn't mind because she's used to it.

Is it Seuss? Yes, but it's lacking some of that whimsy and sparkle of the older stories, and the moral of the story is introduced very suddenly.

This book is dreadful. I didn't realize it was published long after Geisel's death, and it shows. Terrible illustrations accompany a long, boring and inappropriate story. When you buy Seuss make sure you get an original...

This book is definitely not a 'typical' Doctor Seuss book, but when it came out when I was 6 years-old it quickly became my favorite.

The character of Mayzie is relatable to a young girl-- especially as children hit the age when they are trying to make friends! Her troubles with the daisy can represent the issues we all face when our own unique qualities set us apart from other people.

A lot of reviewers complain because they don't think it is 'typical' Seuss book; however, I think we should judge the story not by how it relates to his other stories but rather on it's own merit.

The cover is misleading. No umbrella rides for Ms. Daisy! Excellent tale and great Seuss rhymes.

This manuscript was reportedly found among Dr. Seuss's things after he died, and was finished and published by his wife.
This is not my favorite Dr. Seuss, but a cute book nonetheless. Mayzie suddenly sprouts a daisy on top of her head, and the town is in an uproar trying to figure out what should be done! With a "There's No Place Like Home" and Forgiving Family ending, it's worth reading.
It seems like I had more trouble reading the rhymes smoothly than with other Seuss favorites.

Title explanation: All the reviews before this one seem old. The latest one I found was in 2004 and (believe it or not) some even were made in the 1990s. Title explanation end. My sister, Russian Blue Witch, checked this out from the library one day The story is nice but weird because Dr. Seuss often leaves out questions in his stories. Why did the daisy sprout out of Mayzie's head? How did it sprout out of Mayzie's head? The same with The Cat in the Hat. Where did the Cat in the Hat come from? The Acme Child Cheer agency? LOL! (Laugh out loud.) The story is also kinda boring, but I guess it's fine. A con is how they spell Mayzie. I know, I know, you can spell names any way you want to, but it is still spelled oddly so when I searched for this on amazon.com to write this review, I just searched "Daisy-head" because I forgot how they spelled Mayzie. I don't get why people don't think it is by Dr. Seuss, though. Also, I am a bigger-age kid and I didn't make out practically the first time so for easy reading, this is a no go. And it's weird: The petals just fall off, the daisy doesn't disappear. Good moral, though. What I think is really interesting is the story behind it: it was left in a drawer after Dr. Seuss died. Overall: Nice, but you might want to check it out from the library instead of buying. Not super-interesting. Signed, StoryMaker. "Gotta trust the kid's review!"