With all respect to the designers, in my opinion this style of reprint — not faithful to the original page layout — ruins the stories. Compare them side-by-side and you'll see what I mean. The stories themselves are, of course, excellent. My only issue is with the format, whereby four pages are rejiggered into two. The extra material added between the stories is nice, but I'd recommend tracking down these books in their original format.

i freakin' love dr. seuss. this is a pretty amazing compilation of some of his better known works (and a few lesser read ones). each work is prefaced by an essay by a well-known writer, entertainer, etc. about the importance of the work to that individual, and to the reading public in general. there's lots of neat ephemera between the stories -- pictures of little-seen seuss sketches, early drafts, other artwork, illustrations, and biographical info.

contains 'the sneetches', 'the lorax', 'cat in the hat', 'to think that i saw it on mulligan street', and an earlier version of 'if i ran the circus', among others.

n  nn  nn  nn  nn  nn  nn  nn  nn  nn  nn  nn  nn  n

An amazing book. I bought it because I wanted to buy a collection of books of Dr. Seuss and this book gave me that and more.
Not only does it have many of the books from Dr. Seuss. It also has information about of his life and shows his work which complements each tale and makes them richer.

A delightful collection of thirteen Dr Seuss illustrated stories with interesting information about the author/illustrator.

n  A charming book, you must to take a look!n


This is a book collecting thirteen of the most popular tales written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss, featuring special introductions written for this book by many people impacted in different ways by the work of Dr. Seuss. Along with a brief history and photographs about the life of Dr. Seuss.


The general rating is an average sum of the ratings given to each story contained in this book.


n  AN INTRODUCTION, FOR YOUR INDUCTIONn

I always wanted to read Dr. Seuss’ books but I never was able. In my country, Costa Rica, due our native language is Spanish, and also due the rhytmic style of Dr. Seuss, that I have no doubt must lost a lot trying a translation, when I was a kid (and before) you wouldn’t find these books in our kindergartens or primary schools. And when I finally learned English well enough as to read books, well, it was kinda expensive (here, in my country) trying to buy the singles books by Dr. Seuss. So, I was quite excited when I found this very book, in a local bookstore, collecting thirteen of the most popular tales by Dr. Seuss and with a reasonable price ($34.99). Even better since when I had researched about Dr. Seuss’ collected volumes, usually, for some odd reason, they lack of How The Grinch Stole Christmas that it was essential for me, and happily I can say that this book indeed includes that immortal tale. In my humble (and quite limited) knowledge about Dr. Seuss’ work, I think that this book only miss Horton Hatches The Egg and The Butter Battle Book for having without a doubt the most relevant reading of Dr. Seuss’ work.

My first contact with Dr. Seuss’ work was through television, when I was a kid, with the now iconic Xmas Special by Chuck Jones’ art direction and Boris Karloff’s voice featuring The Grinch. Later, I remember that I watched a TV documentary, made for kids, talking about Dr. Seuss’ work. And obviously I have watched too the films (live action and animated) of The Grinch, The Cat in the Hat, Horton Hears a Who and The Lorax.

And finally, I was able to read happily, these stories without worries. Thankfully, you are never too old to put Dr. Seuss on hold, if your heart is still young and your imagination still can sprung.


Now, the tales…

n  AND TO THINK THAT I SAW IT ON MULBERRY STREETn

Rating: *** ( 3 stars )

n  That can’t be my story. That’s only a start.n

n  I’ll say that a ZEBRA was pulling that cart.n

This is the very first story by Dr. Seuss, here, started it all.

And since this beginning, you can appreciate the distinctive style of Dr. Seuss.

A kid is walking to his home, and he’s thinking what “event” will talk about with his dad that he “saw” in Mulberry Street (the route to his home). And obviously, never is too good, never is finished, always getting bigger and bigger. Where his only limitation is the extension of the road.

Dream bigger, it’s the message of this tale (at least for me).

However, I found the ending (I won’t tell, don’t worry) kinda anti-climatic, but I guess that maybe Dr. Seuss wanting to expose how hard sometimes is for parents and children to have an open talk without worrying to look foolish to the other.


n  McELLIGOT’S POOLn

Rating: ***** ( 5 stars )

n  ’Cause you never can tell.n

n  What goes on down below.n

n  This pool might be bigger.n

n  Than you or I know!n

A wonderful tale, the only one that Dr. Seuss colored using watercolor technique (used by Dr. Seuss only here and in another tale, Happy Birthday to You!), that since it’s about the possibilities of catching all kind of wacko fishes in a little pond, I think it was just perfect.

In my humble opinion, of this kind of “Dream Bigger” trilogy (my point of view, not that they’d ever enlisted as such by anybody else): And to Think that I saw i ton Mulberry Street (above), McElligot’s Pool (this one), and If I ran the Zoo (below), I believe that it’s this very tale which better exemplifies the concept, presenting the right choice of coloring style, a mindblowing and funny shoal of wacko fishes, and a charming ending with endless possibilities.

Also, it’s relevant to mention that thanks to this very tale, the world has too The Berenstain Bears since its creators, Stan and Jan Berenstain got the idea of creating their own series of children’s tales when their kid asked them to buy him this book, that at that moment, they didn’t have a clue who was Dr. Seuss… and years later HE edited it their first book.


n  IF I RAN A ZOOn

Rating: *** ( 3 stars )

n  But if I ran the zoo,n

n  Said young Gerald McGrew,n

n  I’d make a few changes.n

n  That’s just what I’d do…n

It’s a wonderful tale about a young kid imagining what kind of animals, from every strange and oddball places around the world, he’d bring to the zoo and it that way to attract more audience to it.

Illustrates quite well, again, the theme of “Dream Bigger”, but again, the ending (I won’t tell! Geez!) is kinda anti-climatic for my particular taste. It’s said that it’s not about the finish but the journey, but I think that a good ending always it’s relevant for the overall reading experience of a story.


n  HORTON HEARS A WHO!n

Rating: ***** ( 5 stars )

n  I’ll just have to save him. Because, after all,n

n  A person’s a person, no matter how small,n

Without a doubt, one of the crowned jewels of Dr. Seuss’ work, presenting one of his strongest messages to the human civilization.

Horton, the elephant, appears again (he was introduced to the world in Horton Hatches the Egg (not featured in this book)), which is one of the most famous characters of Dr. Seuss.

Horton hears a Who (as quite adequately indicates the tale’s title) in a speck of dust, but since he is the only one with big ears (an elephant, remember?) in the jungle, the rest of animals there think that Horton is lying about it, since nobody else is able to hear the feble voice of the Who.

But it’s not just any Who, but the Who Mayor of Who-ville! A whole town, in a speck of dust.

How wonderful indeed was the mind of Dr. Seuss!

What a large quantity of stories he was able to take from a tiny speck of dust!

Just imagine how many more stories are in the rest of millions of specks of dust!

This charming tale stands up and becomes a relevant reading for everybody to understand the respect to any kind of life, not matter how small.


n  THE CAT IN THE HATn

Rating: *** ( 3 stars )

n  He should not be here.n

n  He should not be about,n

n  He should not be here,n

n  When your mother is out,n

It was a tale hard to rate, and I imagine how shocked must be many of you.

Three stars?! For The Cat in the Hat?! The very tale that it’s an emblem about Dr. Seuss’ work?

Well, before calling the Zooks and Yooks to begin a war against me, let me explain my personal struggles with the tale.

While I like to think that I still have a young heart, I can’t deny that I am an adult, and sometimes my adult mode entered in high alert and suspicion…

…we have a stranger adult person (yes I know, he’s a cat, but work with me!) who breaks into a private house without permission, and offering to children to play with his “things”, and while he cleans his mess (most likely erasing any evidence to be used by the police), you are left uncertain if the kids will tell their mother about the whole incident (inciting to lie to parents).

I don’t know you, but I found this quite creepy and I’d be worried if that dang cat would be left alone with my children!

Yes, I know, it’s Dr. Seuss’ charming world of tales, and The Cat in the Hat would never harm a kid, but you wouldn’t know that, if this would happen in our messy world, so I am left worrying about what kind of message can get kids out from this tale…

…Trust in strangers with funny hats and don’t tell truth to your parents?

Again, it’s Dr. Seuss and I am sure that he didn’t want to give that message, but since The Cat in the Hat became such popular character loved by many, I wonder what was the expected role of this feline one when the story just got out.

But just in case, my personal clear message is: Kids! Stay in school, don’t do drugs and don’t let strangers in your houses (much less if you’re alone!) and don’t get up in their cars neither! (I can’t get more clear than that! Geez!)

A relevant fact is that Dr. Seuss wrote this book as his first one to help kids to learn how to read, using only 223 words from the basic vocabulary used by children in the First Grade of Primary School.

Yes, I know, I was unfair with this tale, but I couldn’t deny my adult worries while reading it!

By the way, the fish is an unsung hero!!!


n  HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS!n

Rating: ***** ( 5 stars )

n  It could be his head wasn’t screwed on just right.n

n  It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight,n

n  But I think that the most likely reason of alln

n  May have been that his heart was too sizes too small,n

Okay, people, this is it!

This is my favorite tale by Dr. Seuss, and I am quite certain that it must be the most popular and known of his works.

We are in Who-ville again and The Grinch is up to no good with mischievious plans to steal Christmas from there.

But you can’t steal something that really is immaterial.

The very word “Grinch” has been added to our common talk in Christmas’ season, as a true testament of the real impact of Dr. Seuss’ work in our popular world culture.

One of the strongest message by Dr. Seuss remembering us that Christmas isn’t in a store, it isn’t something that you receive, but it’s something in your heart and soul that you happily give to others.


n  YERTLE THE TURTLEn

Rating: **** ( 4 stars )

n  And the turtles, of course… all turtles are free.n

n  As turtles and, maybe, all creatures should be,n

It’s said that Yertle the Turtle exemplifies Hitler, and while I have no doubt of that, I think that he could be King Nimrod (from Tower of Babel’s story) as well, but again, I think that Yertle the Turtle exemplifies all tyrants, cruel to their own people; and fools, wanting to be higher than anybody else.

Yertle the Turtle was king of all that he can see, but that wasn’t enough for him, and started an absurd “tower” made with their fellow turtles, not caring if they weren’t able to sustain such kind of pointless endeavor.

An important lesson: Tyrants keep their power as long as their people remain silent.


n  HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!n

Rating: *** ( 3 stars )

n  And all of this beautiful zumming and humming.n

n  And plumbing and strumming and drumming and comming…n

n  All of it, all of it,n

n  Al lis for you!n

Charming tale about the celebration of your birthday, that I am sure any kid would be thrilled and excited to read when they are indeed celebrating their own birthdays.

A popular (and demanded) story to be read in kindergartens and primary schools everywhere when a lucky one is celerating his/her birthday.


n  GREEN EGGS AND HAMn

Rating: **** ( 4 stars )

n  Do you like green eggs and ham?n

n  I do not like them, Sam-I-am.n

n  I do not like green eggs and ham.n

One of the most charming tales to help kids to learn how to read.

A brilliant work made only with fifty words, where forty-nine out of those words are monosyllables.

Dr. Seuss, only him.

Also, I think that besides helping to learn how to read, this funny story helps to encourage kids to try food that they haven’t eaten before, especially since “green” isn’t the most appetizing color for kids in food.


n  THE SNEETCHESn

Rating: ***** ( 5 stars )

n  Now, the Star-Belly Sneetchesn

n  Had bellies with stars.n

n  The Plain-Belly Sneetchesn

n  Had none upon thars.n

It’s not rare that Dr. Seuss came up with this charming tale in 1961, at the beginning of the decade where the civil rights were in a mass turmoil.

This story reminded me about the classic TV episode “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield” from Star Trek: The Original Series where the last two individuals from the same planet were still battling against each other, since they consider themselves “different” from the other one, just because their faces have black-white colors in opposite sides (and not surprising that it was aired in 1969, still in this convulsive decade).

Here, is the same concept (eight years before) just using stars in the bellies (curiously enough, a couple of decades before, in our messy world, stars were used to make look people as different, just in that time, nobody would want to interchange stars).

And in the middle of the ignorance and prejudice, always, ALWAYS, somebody makes profit out of our foolish desires to be “different”, “better”, than others.


n  DR. SEUSS’S SLEEP BOOKn

Rating: *** ( 3 stars )

n  A yawn is quite catching, you see. Like a cough.n

n  It just takes one yawn to start other yawns off.n

I dare you to read this charming tale and not yawn!

It’s true! I yawned and I am not shamed to admit it!

Obviously that’s the very idea of the story, to help kids to sleep, and…well…mmh…(yawn)…

…ZZZZZ…


n  THE LORAXn

Rating: ***** ( 5 stars )

n  UNLESS someone like you.n

n  cares a whole awful lot,n

n  nothing is going to get better.n

n  It’s not.n

…ZZZZZ…mmh…aah? Dang! I am in a different tale already! I fell asleep! (yawn) Oh, well, okay, I am awake again. Just give some seconds…

…Let’s see…where are we? Oh! The Lorax, Okay!

This is one other of the best ever tales by Dr. Seuss.

Like, The Sneetches was crafted in the 60s, it’s not wonder that The Lorax was conceived in 1971, since it was the decade where ecology finally became a relevant issue in the conscience of people.

A powerful story showing in a very open way, how grimm will be our future (and sadly, forty-five years later, we are still in the same trouble) if we let that our woods would be lost without control at the expense of making stuff that we really don’t need or that we’d be able to supply in other ways.

But it’s not too late yet, if each of us, make our contribution in one way or another, not matter how small, we still being able to help our planet’s nature, and then…

…the Lorax will return!


n  OH, THE PLACES YOU’LL GO!n

Rating: ***** ( 5 stars )

n  Congratulations!n

n  Today is your day,n

n  You’re off to Great Places!n

n  You’re off and away!n

No wonder this was the last tale by Dr. Seuss while he was alive (there are two more books, published posthumously)…

…and I am sure that he is now visting great places!

This is a charming tale about the journey of each of us in our lives, BUT what I really liked was that Dr. Seuss don’t lie to us, he exposes during the rhythmic narrative, that not everything will be peaches-and-ice-cream in life, that we’ll have enjoyable moments in life, but also testing times, we’ll have happy events, but also sad crisis, along the journey, not matter if good or bad, if we keep walking forward, we always will be meeting new places, new people, new moments…

…building full and complete lives.

What are you still doing here?

Engage!

You have places to go!

i read this book to my kid every day!, i just love, love the art, love the stories!

I didn’t read Dr. Seuss as a kid. At least I have no memory of reading his work. And I loved reading. And our home was full of books. I just don’t remember any Seuss.

Sometimes I wonder if my parents didn’t like Seuss. The more likely scenario, though, is that the mail order books that lined our shelves didn’t include Seuss as an option. We had a lot of National Geographic selections, though!

I remember when my brother graduated from high school, the valedictorian read parts of Oh, The Places You’ll Go. At first, I thought the young man had written the words and I was thinking, “Wow! This valedictorian is impressive.”

Then he explained the Seuss reference and I was blown away. Published on Ted Geisel’s birthday in 1990, this magically motivating story was the last one he wrote. What a profound swan song.

With this treasury of thirteen stories, I also experienced Seuss’s first story, And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street, which vividly reminded me of my childhood. Seuss captured that quintessential element of childhood: the ability to reimage what was actually happening all around you.

I’d never read McElligot’s Pool, If I Ran The Zoo, Horton Hears a Who, Yertle the Turtle, Happy Birthday to You, The Snitches, and Dr. Seuss’s Sleep Book. I know! This treasury had eight classics that I had never experienced.

While McElligot’s Poo was beautifully illustrated, I liked Horton Hears a Who the best. I was not happy with that kangaroo! And I’m an adult. I can’t imagine being a child and having to work through my feelings about such an aggressive kangaroo!

Reading The Cat in the Hat always reminds me of Patriot Games. Nothing wrong with picturing Harrison Ford reading some Seuss!

How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Green Eggs and Ham are classics, I know, but don’t hold any special meaning for me. I vaguely remember reading them to children who I babysat for.

And then there was The Lorax, which my sister introduced me to while I was in graduate school. I stood in the bookstore…jeez, I think it was a B. Dalton Bookstore…and was stunned that a kid’s book could have such a powerful message.

When I saw this collection on My Person’s bookshelf, I knew I wanted to read it as part of my Reading Challenge. And sitting down for the final afternoon of 2015, I was pleased to experience the career of this American icon.

Each story is introduced with a short essay from various people who worked with, knew, or were touched by Seuss. Interspersed throughout are various pictures, political cartoons, sketches, and notes from Seuss.

As someone who did not grow up with Seuss, I truly feel like this collection makes me appreciate his contribution that much more.

What is there not to love about Dr. Seuss books?! This has a lot of the great books rolled into one. My son and I read out of this all the time!

Contains most of my all-time favourites including The Lorax and The Sneeches. Also includes articles written about Seuss by those who knew him. He said "I don't write for children, I write for people" and it was true; the political commentary and life lessons hidden behind the colourful rhymes and illustrations may surprise you.

Awesome book to have. Some of my favorite are in here. Plus between the stories there are little tidbits of Dr. Seuss and other projects he worked on. At the beginning of the story there is a little tidbit of how that story came to be, or why he wrote it.

I love Dr. Seuss. And I get to read him at work because I'm researching for a blog post. Sometimes I love my job. BTW, March 2 is Read Across America Day (also known as Dr. Seuss Day)!