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The Tough Coughs As He Ploughs the Dough: Early Writings and Cartoons by Dr. Seuss

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for anyone seeking the inane and absurd this book is a must. featuring essays, cartoons and captions, and illustrations all done in the purely irrational Seuss style, it none the less has a raw and unpolished feel; early work with excellent quality and different to the more known Seuss children's books. the content ranges from essays as "sex and the sea god- a frothy novelette" to educational charts on "making our daughters less irritating" and an extremely funny cartoon collection. if -and possibly only if- you are a fan of the nonsensical, Seuss' genius, as in this book, will have you chuckling for a long time yet.

We think of Dr. Suess as only a children's author but his early works, as seen in this collection, show his brilliance in the socio-political arena as well. I especially like his story, "The Waiting Room at Dang-Dang:Or Where the D.T.'s Go While Waiting for Assignment" and the story from which the book takes its title. If you are a Dr. Suess fan, and you can find this book available, it is a must for your collection.

Long before he envisioned the Cat that would forever change children's literature, Theodore Geisel was penning essays and cartoons for the humor magazines of the roaring 20's. But even then, he was best known as Dr. Seuss.

Though these essays and articles aren't in his characteristic rhymes, they are still full of the wildly outrageous shenanigans we remember from his later works. Herein we learn "The Origin of Contract Bridge" (a game played by ancient Druids using croquet mallets), how to pull the old "Cow-out of Pocket" trick, as well as "Some New and Better Superstitions". Like most absurdist writings, it's hard to hit the mark every time and some of the good doctor's writings fall flat, but most are sure to induce giggles.

Writing is only half of Seuss' talents however. All of the prose is illustrated, and the book also includes a nice collection of his cartoons. Most are one panel affairs reminiscent of Gary Larson's "Far Side" cartoons, but where Larson reveled in simplicity, Seuss fills his visions with detailed (if googly-eyed) beasts and fancifully intricate architecture.

This is one of those "rainy day books". The kind you can pick up and thumb through when you need a quick case of the grins.

The Tough Coughs As He Ploughs the Dough: Early Writings and Cartoons by Dr. Seuss is a collection of writings from 1927 to 1937 by Theodore Geisel, from the time before be became known to the world as Dr. Seuss. These are not works for children, but rather humorous pieces for magazines like Judge, Life, College Humor, and Liberty. Filled with word play and absurdist writing, the pieces have lost some of their humor but are still interesting background reading for those interested in Dr. Seuss. The illustrations are probably more important than the writing as they show the development of the cartoon style that made Dr. Seuss famous.

Many of the essays are written under the pen name of Dr. Theophrastus Seuss, which would later be shortened to Dr. Seuss. There is a long piece where Uncle Theophrastus explains to his nephew Quackenbush "The Facts of Life." Another delightful story tells of a corporation that decides to forego profit to manufacture items of the highest "Quality."

A series of one-page Little Educational Charts attempt to explain the most absurd aspects of things like the importance of Simplified Spelling (see the book's title for a sample) and other one-page essays on imaginary uses of birds and beasts and whimsical word meanings were obviously humorous magazine pieces. The book ends with a series of ads for a spray insecticide called FLIT that all contain the catchphrase, "Quick Henry, the Flit."

While the writing has suffered a bit from the passage of time, the artistic humor of Geisel's drawings remains, and provides good background for those who only know his children's books.