McElligot's Pool (Classic Seuss) (Library Binding)

by Dr. Seuss (Author) "Young man," laughed the farmer, "You're sort of a fool!..." (more)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
McElligot's Pool is a Seuss classic from the distant era before even The Cat In The Hat. It's a single poetic variation on the theme of adult skepticism that's no match for childhood faith and daydreaming. A small boy is fishing in the tiny, unpromising McElligot's Pool, a puddle that (as a passing farmer informs our diminutive hero) is nothing but a hole where people dispose of their junk. But the boy is all optimism: what if the pool is deeper than anyone thinks? What if it connects to an underground stream that flows under the town to the sea? Might not all sorts of fish then swim up the stream and be caught here? "I might catch an eel... (Well, I might. It depends.) A long twisting eel with a lot of strange bends. And, oddly enough, with a head at both ends!" The moral of the story is straightforward: "If I wait long enough, if I'm patient and cool,/ Who knows what I'll catch in McElligot's pool?" (Ages 4 to 8) --Richard Farr --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review
"Rare and wonderful imaginings are told in the author-artist's inimitable rhyme and are shown in hilariously funny pictures."--Booklist.   -- Review --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4-8
  
• Library Binding: 64 pages
• Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers (September 12, 1947)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394900839
• ISBN-13: 978-0394900834
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #878,181 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I would do anything to read this book when I was 5!, September 17, 2002

By	"lynkfri13" (Waltham, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: McElligot's Pool (Classic Seuss) (Hardcover)

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When I was ages 4-7 with constant earaches, and finally needing my tonsils out, this book was the only bribe that would get me to the pediatricians office.( He had a copy in his waiting room)

My kids loved it just as much. Im not sure why it's even more popular than other Dr. Seuss. Perhaps because of the beautifully expanding imaginary depths that the hero imagines lie beneath McElligot's Pool. The delightfully bizarre illustrations of the ever more outrageous fish that might populate this world are mysterious and entrancing. As always, Dr. Seuss is a genius at putting common, and his own invented words together into sentences that sing themselves off the page.

This is a wonderful story for kids 3-7. (Please, don't make them go to the doctor's office to read it) :-)

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Pleasures of Youthful Optimism, February 21, 2001

By	Professor Donald Mitchell "Jesus Makes Me a P... (Boston) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)

This review is from: McElligot's Pool (Classic Seuss) (Hardcover)

This book sets up a contrast between the sour pessimism of an adult farmer and the unbounded optimism of a boy. The farmer finds the boy with his fishing line dangling in a small water-filled crack in the earth.

"You're sort of a fool!

You'll never catch fish

in McElligot's Pool!"

As you can imagine, youngster often take that as a challenge to keep doing what they are doing, and this one certainly did. His fertile imagination soon fills the world with opportunity for good fishing.

"This pool might be bigger

Than you or I know!"

He goes on to imagine that it could connect underground all the way to the sea and contain many varieties of fish (Dog Fish, Catfish, or "even a fish made of strawberry jelly" not to mention one with a pinwheel-like tail, another with fins like a sail, and many many more). The book's core is a series of fantastic fish, each more remarkable than the last. The most exciting one to me is a THING-A-MA-JIGGER (that's much bigger than a whale).

Having thought about all of these fish, the boy ponders,

"Oh, the sea is so full of a number of fish,

If a fellow is patient, he might get his wish!"

But, the boy is still there with the little pool. What else is he thinking? He's actually congratulating himself for being so wise.

"And that's why I think

That I'm not such a fool

When I sit here and fish

In McElligot's Pool!"

That, of course, is the downside of optimism. You can spend a lot of time doing things that make little sense, in hopes they will pan out. Research has shown that optimists vastly outperform pessimists. The difference seems to be that optimists try more things, and some of them work!

I strongly urge you to share this book with your child and anyone else who needs more optimism. The story will be like Dumbo's magic feather in providing confidence to try.

After you and your child have enjoyed this book many times, I suggest that you discuss other ways to encourage appropriate optimism. For example, you can ask other people what has worked well. You can also imagine what perfection would be like and then work backward to how you might capture some of it. In having these conversations, you will be arming your child with many good tools for employing limitless optimism to achieve much more!

Look on the bright side, always!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Look at all the fish you can catch!, May 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: McElligot's Pool (Classic Seuss) (Hardcover)

The earlier reviewer is right; who cannot like a book by Dr. Seuss? This classic children's story is about a boy fishing in a small pool and imagining all types of fish that he might catch, most of them quite fanciful. I still remember laughing when I first read it as a child. The book was a 1948 Caldecott Honor book (i.e., a runner-up to the Medal winner) for best illustration in a children's book.