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Horton Hatches the Egg [Hardcover]

Dr. Seuss
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (91 customer reviews)

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Book Description

October 12, 2004 5 - 9 years460L (What's this?)
It's the talk of the jungle when an elephant hatches an egg. Extravagant nonsense and rollicking verse.  

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Horton Hatches the Egg + Horton Hears A Who! + Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories
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Product Details

  • Age Range: 5 - 9 years
  • Hardcover: 64 pages
  • Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers (October 12, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 039480077X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0394800776
  • Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 0.4 x 11.3 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (91 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,561 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Poor Horton. Dr. Seuss's kindly elephant is persuaded to sit on an egg while its mother, the good-for-nothing bird lazy Maysie, takes a break. Little does Horton know that Maysie is setting off for a permanent vacation in Palm Springs. He waits, and waits, never leaving his precarious branch, even through a freezing winter and a spring that's punctuated by the insults of his friends. ("They taunted. They teased him. They yelled 'How Absurd! Old Horton the Elephant thinks he's a bird!'") Further indignities await, but Horton has the patience of Job--from whose story this one clearly derives--and he is rewarded in the end by the surprise birth of... an elephant-bird. Horton Hatches the Egg contains some of Theodor Geisel's most inspired verse and some of his best-ever illustrations, the dated style of which only accentuates their power and charm. A book no childhood should be without. (Ages 2 to 7) --Richard Farr

Review

"Dr Seuss ignites a child's imagination with his mischievous characters and zany verses." The Express --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

  • Age Range: 5 - 9 years
  • Hardcover: 64 pages
  • Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers (October 12, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 039480077X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0394800776
  • Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 0.4 x 11.3 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (91 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,561 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.

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

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#72 Overall (See top 100 authors)
#69 in Books
#69 in Books

Customer Reviews

Teaching children patience and persistence . . . well, that takes a lot of patience and persistence. Donald Mitchell  |  23 reviewers made a similar statement
This was one of my favorite books as a child. Michael  |  12 reviewers made a similar statement
Horton Hatches the Egg was read to me as an infant. Arthur K. Yellin  |  11 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
61 of 66 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Some see this as the triumph of hard work, patience, and loyalty. I guess I can see that. Certainly, lazy Mayzie is as villianous a deadbeat parent as I can think of, and Horton strikes a noble contrast.

However, I couldn't help reading this as Dr. Seuss' take on nature vs. nurture. Horton does all the real nurturing, and out comes an elephant-bird, a Lamarkian triumph and an inspiration to adoptive parents. I'm not sure if it's what Dr. Seuss believes to be true or if it is what he wishes to be true, "it should be, it should be, it should be that way."
I could do without the scene where the hunters point their rifles straight at Horton's heart, but that's just me. Evidently I'm too gentle for the world of children's literature.

Big thumbs up, though, good story, good rhymes, and not as insipid as the lazy-Mayzie "wocket in my pocket"-era Seuss. Most importantly, my daughter loves it.
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33 of 34 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Virtue Earns a Reward! February 23, 2001
Format:Hardcover
This book clearly deserves more than five stars!

Horton Hatches the Egg is one of my very favorite children's books. The story opens with Mayzie, a lazy bird, sitting on her nest hatching an egg. She's terribly bored and tired and wants a break. She persuades Horton, the elephant, to take over for her. This is a good choice on her part because, "An elephant's faithful -- one hundred percent!"

So Horton props up the tree so it can take his weight, climbs up onto the nest, and ever so gently . . . sits on the egg.

Mayzie decides a little vacation in Palm Beach will be in order. Once there, she says . . . "why bother?" and abandons her egg.

What Horton didn't know is that this egg needed 51 more weeks of hatching! But, never mind. "He said what he meant and he meant what he said." He sat on that egg, no matter what.

Through a long series of misadventures, Mayzie and Horton are reunited just as the egg hatches. Mayzie wants her egg back, and Horton doesn't agree. Then the big surprise happens and Horton gets his reward!

Teaching children patience and persistence . . . well, that takes a lot of patience and persistence. Horton Hatches the Egg is a way to provide a small fictional example when setbacks and delays occur. My youngsters didn't understand Thomas Edison's comment about genius being 99 percent perspiration until they were well past their Dr. Seuss days. I like to think that their hard-working adult selves (for the three who are adults) were formed in part by Horton's example in this book.

This book contains many valuable lessons to encourage such as: keeping your word; being honest; looking out for those in need; sticking through to the end; facing your fears; and many others.... Read more ›

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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Enchanting and fun for all November 14, 1999
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
Horton Hatches the Egg is a wonderful tale for young and old alike. I read it as a child and now read it to my own children. I was the library coordinator for my child's first grade class and was having a very difficult time controling twenty two unruly kids. Horton to the rescue. The kids loved the tale of the faithful elephant shouting out each and every time that this elephant was faithful one hundred percent. You will love this book one hundred percent !
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellant Lesson to be learned March 19, 2002
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
This playful and imaginative book is about an elephant that comes across a bird that is extremely stressed and does not wish to sit on her egg anymore. So Horton decides to sit on the egg so the bird can take a break. Well the bird ends up taking a tropical vacation and doesn't want to return. Well Horton very patiently sat on the egg through sleet and rain and the most horrible conditions. Well some people decide that this is a hilarious site and feel that he should be on display for all to see. So the men dig up the tree in which Horton is patiently perched and is taken down south. When Horton and the tree reach the south the mother bird finds Horton just as his egg starts to hatch and she demands it back. Horton is very displeased and states that he did all the work and deserves the egg. Well just as that was said out of the egg jumps an Elephant bird, which is a trophy for all Horton's hard work.
Dr. Seuss yet again did a wonderful job with rhymes and engaging children to read. I love the moral that was being put into place that if you work hard and stay focused then it will all pay off and you will be rewarded in the end.
This is one of my favorite Dr. Seuss book if not my favorite. I have always been a fan of his ability to draw children in and engage them in reading. Also the rhymes and silly words are great for young readers. Also what better then to have a moral tied along with it?
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best of the Seuss books in my opinion January 12, 2006
Format:Hardcover
Horton Hatches the egg was one of my favourite books when I was a child and it is lovely to be able to read it to my children and it has become one of their favourite too. I certainly prefer this one to many of the Seuss books available (I have never been a huge fan of Cat in the hat or Green Eggs and Ham) This one has a hugely appealing story.

Mayzie is a lazy bird and doesn't enjoy just sitting on her egg, she needs a holiday from sitting around doing nothing on the egg (a lovely ironic touch for adults here, I think this is one of the reasons it is so appealing!) So she convinces Horton the Elephant who is passing by to sit on her egg for her. She doesn't really care that he is 'immense' she persuades him that he will be able to do it.

So Horton props up the nest and sits on it - all through the day and night, through storms, through winter ice, through teasing from his friends because "an elephants faithful, 100%"

Then one day some hunters come along, but instead of shooting hiim they capture him on the nest and drag him over the hills and onto a boat (where an elephant is seasick, 100%) and back to New York to sell him to the circus.

There he sits on the egg being dragged around the country until one day they go to florida where Mayzie the lazy bird has been lying around. She has been there a year and has decided never to go back to her nest. When she sees the circus in town she flies in and sees Horton on her egg, just as it hatches. Now Mayzie gets angry and claims that it is HER egg.

But the egg hatches with a new type of creature, an elephant bird.
... Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book
I read this book as a child and I wanted to share it with my children too. IT is a great book.
Published 1 month ago by Monica Mundy
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Dr. Suess CLassic
This is one of my all time favorite Dr. Suess books! My 3 year old loves to read this every night!
Published 1 month ago by SuperMom
5.0 out of 5 stars TEACHING CARING
I LOVE THIS BOOK. IT HAS BEEN AROUND FOR SOME TIME.
I THINK THAT IT SHOWS STAMINA, CARING, AND TO NEVER GIVE UP. Read more
Published 1 month ago by LINDA
5.0 out of 5 stars Collector!
I am a collector of Dr. Seuss books and want several copies of Horton Hatches the Egg. I now have 10 copies!!! Thanks for such a good price!
Published 2 months ago by Jeri Menking
5.0 out of 5 stars item arrived in good shape. Why so many words? a few is all it takes...
item arrived in good shape. Why so many words? a few is all it takes for something like this. OK
Published 2 months ago by Joseph R. Wrobel
5.0 out of 5 stars best book ever for children!!!
this classic book was the book that taught me about responsibility and keeping my word... I recommend it to ALL parents and teachers!!!
Published 2 months ago by Denis W. Keyes
5.0 out of 5 stars One of Dr. Seuss Treasures
I love this story! It is a very cute story about keeping your promises, no matter what. I am a teacher, and it is a fun book to pair with projects and writing activities.
Published 2 months ago by Kira
5.0 out of 5 stars My favourite Seuss
My boys enjoy this book so much that I can now recite it from beginning to end without even flipping the pages. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Maria V Lucassen
5.0 out of 5 stars classic
One of Seuss's best books. Shows that love is what makes a family. Horton is a true hero! Childrens bookshelf must have.
Published 3 months ago by Claudine
4.0 out of 5 stars English and Mandarin
Bought this for my son who is in a Mandarin Immersion Kindergarten. I was looking for something that had Mandarin and English so we could try to translate the story together. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Susan Hughes
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