Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories by Dr. Seuss

Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories by Dr. Seuss

Rating: 5 stars

The holidays are coming, and I know you're tempted to buy a bunch of toys for those kids on your list.  Don't do it!  Don't give in!  I urge you to consider two things: books and experiences.  Since this blog is supposed to focus on just the first of these two things, I'll do my best to stay on track and give you some great books to buy for your kids.

Like this one.

A classic!  If it's not on your child's shelf, rectify the situation and order it right now.  There are three books in this collection, which is my favorite Dr. Suess collection.  His rhymes shine and make both big and little kids (also known as grown-ups and children) giggle, but the poems deliver a punch: each one has a masterful life lesson that make me grateful for reading them every time I do.

I'm Yertle the Turtle! Oh marvelous me!
For I am the ruler of all that I see!
I remember the first time I read these three stories to Lorelei.  My rump was perched on a pint-sized chair and she sat, mesmerized, as I read line after line.  She was three.  (I think that's a little young for this collection, but better too early than not at all.)  I wasn't a fan of Dr. Suess because I thought him long-winded, like the crusty, pompous professor who can't stop himself when he gets going on a lecture, and drones on and on, amused with himself but losing the crowd.

But these books woke me up from my not-a-fan sleep and I have pledged my allegiance ever since.

The first story is of Yertle the Turtle, a greedy turtle king who realizes how low his thrown is, and forces all the turtles around him to make a stack so that he can be taller than his current perch.  He keeps making turtles stack up higher and higher and higher so that he can see more and more and more until suddenly--you saw this coming--one of the plain turtles down below politely complains that his back and shoulders hurt.  Yertle doesn't care and stacks on and on, but the turtle on the bottom burps innocently and shakes the whole stack.  Since Yertle was so high, he fell far.  Ker-plunk into the mud, of which he is now king.  "And the turtles, of course...all the turtles are free / As turtles, and maybe, all creatures should be."

The second story is of Gertrude McFuzz, a funny bird-like creature that has one puny tail feather and wants more and finer tail feathers, like a popular little gal she knows.  She makes a big fuss to her uncle-doctor, who gives in and gives her the secret: go to a pill-berry vine and eat just one berry.  No more!  Of course, after a fine tail feather pops out of her behind moments after eating the first berry, she gobbles still more, until her tails are gorgeous and full and...very, very heavy.  Since she could neither run nor walk, all those tail feathers had to plucked out, one by one.  Ouch!  See?  Accept yourself as you are, nods the wise Dr. Suess.  It's better that way.  Save yourself the plucking hassle.
Then the little old worm gave his head a small jerk
And he dived in his hole and went back to his work.

The third is "The Big Brag."  A rabbit and bear (both male, I should point out) engage in a silly fight over who is the best.  They perform impossibly stupid feats--the rabbit explains how his ears can hear a fly cough from over two mountains away and the bear says his nose can smell one stale egg in a nest in a tree next to a farm that is beyond far away far.  To break up their rift, a worm pops up and explains that he can see (chuckle, chuckle!) better than they can hear and smell.  And he stares this crazy serious stare and makes up a crazy serious story about what he sees.  He goes on and on adding distance until:

And I kept on looking and looking until
I'd looked 'round the world and right back to this hill!
And I saw on this hill, since my eyesight's so keen,
The two biggest fools that have ever been seen!
And the fools that I saw were none other than you,
Who seem to have nothing else better to do
Than sit here and argue who's better than who!

Funny stuff that has a wonderfully serious, important lesson.  Does it get better than this?  Not really.  That Dr. Suess is one of a kind...

John, Paul, George and Ben by Lane Smith

John, Paul, George and Ben by Lane Smith

Rating: 5 EXTRA LARGE stars

Here's a book that's been on our shelf for a long time, even longer than my absence from this blog (sorry, was a bit preoccupied with life).

Many of Lane Smith's books are politically-related, including his latest, Abe Lincoln's Dream...has anyone read it?  I've not yet.  His most famous, for which he oh-so-justly earned a Caldecott, was Grandpa Green (my review here).  I'm a fan, because Lane Smith is one funny dude*, whose illustrations match his witty words.  I appreciate funny dudes, and I appreciate the quirkiness--both written and illustrated--of this book.

The tale is one that we all know: That some important guys put their important heads together and did some important stuff in order to get our important nation off to a good start.  Smith tells the (mostly true) individual stories and then collective, revolutionary tale of John Adams, Paul Revere, George Washington, Ben Franklin, and also Thomas Jefferson (who was always off doing his own thing, so he doesn't get his name in the title).  He spends a few pages on each one, illustrating with words and pictures each particular character.

They are all funny, but Paul is my favorite.  Smith explains: "Before fun was invited, people joined bell-ringing clubs."  Because of this, Paul was hard of hearing and so, in order to hear himself, yelled an awful lot.  Check out the image of Paul, whose loudness wasn't appreciated at his shop:

Look at the look on that lady's face!  That is FUNNY!

"It took many years and a midnight ride for people to finally appreciate his special talent," writes Smith, as the illustration has Paul riding his bay steed through the cobblestone streets to warn of the Redcoats.

Ben Franklin is also pretty funny, but mostly because Lorelei had a habit of repeating two of the sayings that Smith includes in the small collection of Ben Franklin-isms.  "Three can keep a secret if two of them are dead" and "Fish and visitors stink after three days."  Can you see a preschool-goin', blonde-haired, blue-eyed three year old walking around saying these two things?  Yup, that's our Lorelei.

Anyway, I am so glad that we have had this book for so long.  It is funny and engaging and--lo and behold--completely educational.  In the back Smith includes real images of the five important dudes, and Lorelei and Ben have been able to pick them out in photographs and paintings for years.  They know an impressive handful of basic facts (for example, George Washington was the first president, and he lived in New York, not the White House in Washington, DC) and have yet to start elementary school.

I think it's so important to teach kids about our country, starting with the basics, like this book so funnily does.  This book is one example of many that can get your kids started on the right track to be an informed, appreciative patriot.

( * Lorelei also walked around saying "dude" instead of "guy" or "man" for years...oops.  I learned from that chuckle-worthy mistake, and her brothers started off with less surfer-like language.