Customer Reviews

Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now! (Bright & Early Books(R))

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
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My son is an 11 month infant and we love to read this book. He knows who Marvin is and when I ask him to find Marvin he points him out with his finger. He seems to be calling him a Dog sometimes and maybe he's right. One night I said Goodbye Marvin and my little guy waved bye-bye to him. This is one of those few stories that niether he nor I get tired of reading and rereading. Now when I start in, "The time has come..." (the openning lines), my son looks for the book. He also recognizes the cow, lion, and elephant and makes their sounds. There really is surprisingly a lot to this book to enjoy. I have even thought about there being an existential subtext here and that the book is about time (the mysterious narrator's hand wears a watch and refers to time in the opening lines) and life's finitude (to go means death) ... Okay, woah--layers of meaing here. My point is that this really is a strange, wonderful, imaginative, and addicting little book. And hey, for once, Dr. Seuss's main character isn't Scottish. I wish it came as a board book because my little guy is pretty rough on the pages sometimes.

I read this book when I was a little kid, to the point that I still remember all the words as an adult. This is a good story to read a child. When I had kids, I bought the book, because I remembered enjoying it when my big sister read it to me.

Another delightful Dr Seuss marvel.
A simple instruction to a guest who has outstayed his welcome is put into the wonderful poetry unique to
Dr Seuss, that is a delight to children around the world, as well as to adults who are young at heart.
Dr Seuss introduces some of the marvelous technological inventions of his world, such as a Zike-Bike, a Crunk-Car, a Zumble-Zay, a Bumble-Boat and a Gazoom.

It is a great way of teaching children reading and language, and as go is one of the first words children learn to recognize, this teaches the meanings in a really fun way.

GET THIS BOOK FOR YOUR CHILD. My foster son's daughter Kayla, 6, read a little more than half of it last night. She loved it. Tonight I picked it up -- and she grabbed it out of my hands, sat down and started reading aloud. As I write this she's in the living room, eagerly reading aloud -- with absolutely no enticement from ANYONE. It's a FUN book with the ryhmes, repeated words, colorful and silly illustrations. And she's still reading it. I had it in my hands for a few seconds, and it was gone! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This book was originally published at the height ofthe Watergate scandal. Dr. Seuss sent a copy tohis friend Art Buchwald, crossing out the name "Marvin K. Mooney" and writing in "Richard M. Nixon." Buchwald reprinted the whole thing in his column with the alteration. I find it impossible to read the book without this anecdote in mind! My two-year-old has no such political baggage, and though he has outgrown Marvin K. Mooney now, he enjoyed it for a long, long time. It's underrated.

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. Marvin K. Mooney, Will You Please Go Now! was one of her picks.

Marvin K. Mooney is an excellent choice of a beginning reader after your child has read about 20 books and is ready for something just a little more challenging. The reason I say that is because there are a number of Dr. Seuss's imaginary creatures and inventions in here, so the illustrations don't totally tell you what the words are. For example, you will see a Ga-Zoom, a Bumble-Boat, a Zumble-Zay, and a Crunk-Car. These are, by the way, the most witty and imaginative illustrations as well.

The fun of the story relates to an impatient adult (displayed by an arm and a hand wearing a watch) who wants Marvin K. Mooney to go. Marvin just listens until the end, when he goes. It isn't clear if Marvin K. Mooney is the child of the hand or the child's friend whose parent wants him to leave. It doesn't really matter. I lean towards the latter explanation. But we all know how adults like to say the whole name of a child to let them know the adult is very serious.

Yet, the book isn't serious at all in any other way. The suggestions for leaving are very funny, and take things that could otherwise be scary and make them humorous (like leaving by taking a ride on a lion's tail).

In typical Dr. Seuss fashion, the story is displayed in a rhyme. Like a good beginning reader, there is a lot of repetition to help the young person. "The time has come. The time is now. Just go. Go. GO! I don't care how." The new sentences usually just replace one or two words. The illustrations encourage the child to keep moving ahead by keeping the mood light as she or he struggles with soon-to-be familiar words. Using the imaginative words is good, too, so that a child can learn to recognize new things.

Obviously, you will want to read this book along with your youngster until he or she gets a command of it. You can start at the beginning, and ask you youngster to read with you as soon as the book is memorized. Then, gradually, you can let your youngster take the lead. If the young person falters a bit, you can provide hints.

Have a great time exploring reading together! What else could you be exploring together that would be fun for both of you?

I'm a big fan of Dr. Seuss, and while this isn't his best, it's still pretty good.

Marvin K. Mooney is supposed to go, and that sets the scene for 25 pages of delightfully silly pictures and fun-to-say-out-loud rhymes ("Get yourself a Ga-Zoom. You can go with a boom!").

It's never clear WHY Marvin has to go, and I wonder if some kids might speculate on the reason. "Did he do something wrong? Is he in trouble?" (A giant hand points to Marvin as the text says "GO!")

Still, this is a good read-aloud book that kids should like for the pictures and the rhymes.

I love to read my daycare kids books with rhythm and rhyme. This book is terrific and adorable and never seems to get old no matter how many times I read it. We giggle through the whole thing. FUN FUN read.

I learned to read with this book and I will never forget that. I always loved this story as a little girl and now I can't wait to share it with my kids.

A true classic, my wife and I could read this every night. The rhymes and illustrations are perfect. A great book for younger readers as well.