Oh, how much fun was this book! I loved that the little boy listened to the advice of the adult, but then came up with several possibilities that even an adult could not logically dispute. I loved how Dr. Seuss used the black and white (reality) illustrations and the colored (imagination) illustrations to demonstrate their interchangeability. I also loved that because of this juxtaposition, whose to say that our "reality" isn't just our imagination come to life? This is a great story of the possibilities that await you if you are patient and believe that anything is possible. Great story for children!

This was my favorite Dr. Seuss book as a kid. I loved all the things the fishing boy might possibly catch in McElligot's Pool. The imagination is great - also the hope of possibility. When I finished reading it to my mentee, he said, "But it doesn't say if he catches anything!" I told him that was great, because the reader gets to decide the outcome of the book. Until reading Seuss's books more recently as an adult, I'd no idea the hidden depth in what seemed to be meaningless, fun-sounding, inventive rhymes when I was a child.

The creativity of a child’s mind knows no depths. Such a zany, cute book!

This is the third discontinued Seuss book that I was able to get from my library. It is another that I don't recall from childhood.

Marco's imagination runs wild again! Marco was first seen in the first book, "And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street." The rhymes are much better in this one but there are a few clunkers. There's 10 years between the two books. I enjoyed

Now for the "offensive" bit that got it knocked off the publishing table...
There are a few locations and people drawn in approximate style of the locations, but to me (not a professional) they don't look atypical or insensitive. A quick internet search shows that while Seuss enterprises doesn't specify why, most agree it is the use of "Eskimo." There are "Eskimo Fish" with furry manes like a fur-rimmed hood. There is also a spearman in a furry winter suit in front of an igloo. Eskimo is now considered insensitive to some groups. The book's reference is towards the fish, not a human and the book was published in 1947.  

Out of the 3 discontinued books I've been able to read, this one is the least egregious and probably not even gregious. At least to me, this is not enough to discontinue a book written 74 years ago.

Remember: the books were not banned. They were only discontinued from further publishing. You may have words with anyone actually banning them (preventing people from reading an existing copy), but do not claim that they have been banned.

I like this story and exploration and imagination of variety of fishes are enjoyable. It let kids to believe in countless possibilities and that’s great. Just right amount of inspiration for adults too. 4.5 statrs.

I think this Seuss book is one of the easiest ones for me to connect with because all of the nonsense words and ideas come from a boy’s imagination as he sits by the pool trying to convince an adult that fishing there isn’t foolish. Other Seuss books seem to take place within fantasy worlds where things like sneetches and wockets just roam free and should be taken for granted. But in this book, it’s a child who comes up with the strange ideas, which really speaks to the power and importance of imagination. I also like its similarities to stories like The Carrot Seed, where naysaying adults are proven wrong by the beliefs and perseverance of a child.

I spent hours looking at this book as a kid and all the amazing things this kid thought of down in the pool. I was especially enamored of the flower fish and her hair!

“McElligot’s Pool” is one of Dr. Seuss’ earlier books and it is about how a young boy explains to an old man how he imagines that there will be millions of fish of different shapes and colors in McElligot’s Pool. “McElligot’s Pool” may be a bit behind for today’s kids, but it is truly a creative book that started up Dr. Seuss’ popular line of rhyming books.

Dr. Seuss’ illustrations are truly creative as the fishes are shown in many different colors and shapes, especially when the boy starts describing about the cat fishes in the water and the images of the cat fish are truly hilarious as the cat fish have cat heads and fish bodies and also the image of the fish with the checkerboard belly is also hilarious as the fish literally has a checkerboard belly. Also, the images in the book are structured where two pages of the book have colored images while the next two pages are in black and white which was similar to some of the “Madeline” books. Dr. Seuss’ story is extremely creative and full of optimism as the boy believes that fish will come to McElligot’s Pool no matter what the old man said which will give many children a good impression that anything is possible if you believe in it. Also, the way that the boy describes each fish in McElligot’s Pool in a creative way such as mentioning a cat fish, a stout fish, and a fish that rides on skis and many children will love the wacky mentioning of each fish.

Some smaller children might think that this book is a bit too old-fashioned since it was one of Dr. Seuss’ earlier books and the images are a bit outdated since some of the images are in black and white and the images are not brightly colored like Dr. Seuss’ later books are. Also, this book is a bit lengthier than Dr. Seuss’s later books and many small children might lose interest in a book that is too long for their liking.

“McElligot’s Pool” is a very creative book about the power of using your imagination and anything would be possible. I would recommend this book to children ages five and up since there is nothing inappropriate about this book, but smaller children might be a little bored with this book since it is a bit too outdated but it all depends on your child if he or she likes outdated books.

If you would like to see more of Marco then you should definitely check out Dr. Seuss's first children books which is And to Think I Saw it on Mulberry Street

I honestly believe this book is precursor to One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish and could possibly be Dr. Seuss's experimental book. What I mean by experimental is by the time Dr. Seuss becomes a sensation, he already discover his talent and the different formats of writing a children's book, the illustrations, and the colors. In this book the illustrations vary differently in each page.

One moment it is black and white, the next is water-color drawings, another is the usual Dr. Seuss drawings. I did not have a problem with it especially since this is one of earlier works but I can definitely see how others may not enjoy it especially the constant shift to black and white.

In this story we get to meet Marco from Dr. Seuss's first book and he is at McElligot's pool. He goes there one day to simply catch a fish and the farmer tells him that he will never catch a fish. He tells him that that is the location where people dump cans and bottles but no fish. Marco realizes while that may be true it is still possible to catch fish, all you have to do is be patient. When that idea comes in, his imagination goes wild like in the first book and goes into details of the different type of fishes that may come up to the surface of McElligot's pool.

If you see the marvelous illustrations I see great examples of different fishes that appear in his other works like I saw a larger version of the goldfish that he uses in the Cat in the Hat. I really enjoyed this book especially the rhymes and I felt like Dr. Seuss didn't have any pressures about this book and just wrote it for fun and to be free with creativity.

Seuss back before he was obligated to make up nonsense words for the sake of rhyming. Great illustrations - sometimes they force you to linger much longer than the text would require.

This is not a Seuss that I encountered as a child, so that's a pity. As a HUGE fan of One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, I'm sure I would have enjoyed this one. I also missed out on reading it to my own kids, yet another pity, as unlike a lot of the man's titles, this one is not too text heavy for younger listeners. Seuss does a great job of showing how one thing leads to another, and how we're all connected by nature, AND our desire to catch fish.

So . . . of course, it's been blacklisted due to racial stereotyping. Instead of having a conversation with children about antiquated notions and harmful images of the shameful past, it's much better to pretend these things never happened. We can all be like the Texas School Board, revising and whitewashing history to sweep all that nastiness under the rug.

I honestly think it's a crime to remove any book from the public's view.

After all . . .

I know I've read this many times prior to today, but I'll 100% admit to the reread stemming from the curiosity surrounding the discontinuation of this book. I couldn't recall what was objectionable. I now know what it was and will not comment as to it, as 1, it's not up to me which books dr. Seuss' estate decides to pull or why. 2, Its not up to me to tell people what to be offended by. If people feel hurt by words or drawings included, I support their feelings.
What I'll take away from this reread is a genuine fun that Dr. Seuss provides, in drawings and words, and just general sparks of imagination which is what this book means to me.