I was so surprised there was no rhyme scheme in this one when I first read it! I thought Dr. Seuss always rhymed. A silly little story dealing with the craziness of social convention and when power goes to the head. Strange, but funny.

Bartholomew Cubbin was the nicest fooler of a great, commanding king. when the king told him to take his hat off, another hat appeared! and is goes on and on on and on on and on on and on on and on on and on on and on on and on on and on on and on on and on on and on on and on on and on on and on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So, it was good and (FUNNY)

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-Navilan (o o )
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For some reason when I think of Dr. Seuss books, I think of short, fun, rhyming reads. This book, though, is quit a bit longer (at least for a Seuss kid's book) which I think is the main reason I had put off reading it for so long. It just didn't feel right. This week, however, I was determined to finally see what this one was about and if it was worth the undertaking.

It was.

Bartholomew Cubbins, a nice boy, unknowingly has a never ending supply of hats magically on his head which causes him to accidentally disrespect the king. The king gets offended by this and demands Bartholomew take off his hat. The boy tries but there is always another. The king gets enraged and tries everything he can think of to stop it, until it escalates up to him ordering the boy to be beheaded.

Very fun little tale. I'm glad I finally read it.

7/10
favorite character: The executioner
Favorite moment: the executioner's rule about hats

Since I was 6, just learning to read on my own and going through my Dr. Suess phase, this has been my favorite Dr. Seuss story. What didn't occur to me then, that occurs to me now, is that this is one of Dr. Seuss's only prose works. It does not have Dr. Seuss's easily parodied meter or a rhyme scheme.

I don't know what the meaning of the story is. If it has an overall meaning, its not nearly as easy to tease out as so many of Seuss's openly allegorical and more famous tales. Perhaps that's part of what placed the story in my esteem then, and holds it there now. An allegorical story is trying desparately to convince me of something, and generally speaking in a way that annoys me especially when the moral of the story is so much simplier than the problem that it seems to have no practical merit. 'The 500 Hats' isn't desparate to convince me of something; it's just entertaining and if I learn something from it then all the better. As has become typical of my opinion as I aged, I think I was unconsciously rejecting politics as the highest level of art even then.

The basic story concerns the conflict between the very small, and the very great. Bartholomew Cubbins has a family hat that he's quite willing to remove from his head to please the proud King Derwin. Unfortunately for poor Cubbins, his hat is not nearly so willing to be removed. Cubbin's involuntary act of hubris leads to conflict with the entire social fabric of the Kingdom - a conflict that Cubbin's ends up winning not by any virtue of his own part (except perhaps basic goodness and fast feet), but by the sheer stubbornness of the hat over which he has no control. In the end, the audacity of the hat ends up pleasing the King so well, he's willing to have it's vainity crown his own head and Bartholmew Cubbins returns to his humble roots unmolested and unencumbered (except for new found wealth).

I don't think I have ever read this book prior to today.

We are celebrating Dr. Seuss's birthday with a week-long celebration of reading. We designated Monday as silly hat day. Donned in an alligator hat, I read this lengthy book to my students. I rather enjoy it.

While silly, it isn't what I would call classic Dr. Seuss with the rhyming pattern.

Bartholomew wears a cute little hat a la Robin Hood except his is red. The kind processes through town. He stops, backs up, and criticizes Bartholomew for not taking off his hat as his king goes by. But Bartholomew had. Yet, a hat was upon his head.

That's where the hilarity began. Each time Bartholomew (or someone else) removed his hat, a new one appeared on his head. There was an official counter, dukes, archers, magicians, etc. who all attempted to remove the hat.

Finally, it was decided to toss Bartholomew off a turret. While it wouldn't remove his hat, it would rid the king of his problem. Lo and behold, a new fancy, valuable hat appeared upon Bartholomew's head. The king offered to purchase this 500th hat for 500 gold pieces. Alas, Bartholomew was hatless.

Nice. The students enjoyed it.

Came across a review of this Dr. Seuss book that I had never seen before. I didn't expect to find an unfamiliar Dr. Seuss, so I took a few moments (which was all I had to spare) and read it. It is an early work and Seusslike, but more in the form or a traditional fairytale than his books usually are. What's not to enjoy if Theodore is involved? I have loved every word he has put to paper.

So, a bit of fun in an otherwise not much fun day.

Um... This book was a little dark, much to my surprise. I only picked it up because 1) it was mentioned in Insomnia by Steven King which I am trying hard to finish and 2) I mean it's Seuss, 'nough said. I was not disappointed. It was a good story and ultimately ended well but man. There were some really disturbing people and situations. I was horrified for Bartholomew. I'm glad he escaped with his life cause these people were crazy.

Other than that. It's Seuss! I have no qualms.

An enjoyable tale of a young man whose hat has a seemingly eternal life of its own, spawning hat after hat and getting him into trouble with the king. I like these early Seuss books in which a simple story is told well and in a prose style; sometimes the rhyming and the weird and wonderful creatures featured in most of Seuss's books can be all a bit too much.

I was a bit surprised finding out that there was no ryhme scheme while reading so I was a bit disappointed. Also, saw no learning aspect behind this story for kids or I might just missed it.

Except that it was a great read and also tense as Bartholomew was about to be executed as he offended the King. It was still funny as they all just seemed to be perplexed and it got better when the hats changed forms and got more fancy. Funny read, even if it is a bit longer than Dr. Seuss other books and no ryhmes I would still recommend it.

When we laughed and laughed along with Doctor Seuss in The 500 Hats, after it was published in the post-war years, I think I always confused it with The Sorceror’s Apprentice.

Remember that Disney Halloween clip from Fantasia?

Same fantastic comically nightmarish sort of premise, I guess...

My mother, the town librarian, was WAY ahead of the rest of our village in the mid-1950’s.

Especially when it came to the Seuss books.

She got so she could sniff out a potential kid’s literary masterpiece after she’d skimmed through only a few pages.

And there were plenty of kids in our town back then too, cause the soldiers were all back home at last. And it was a time of hopeful beginnings - familial and economic.

Cause money was still a bit scarce back then, and without money or much TV in Canada what were young couples to do?

(If you said make more babies, you just passed Go on the monopoly board!)

And my Mom had an expansive mind, too - just like Theodore Geisel - Dr. Seuss in REAL life.

In Dr. Seuss’ books the sheer joy of living always bursts forth from his characters’ lives, off the printed page, and into our hearts!

And my Mom also loved mathematics - it was her university major - and she loved complex thinking. And she had a wonderful sense of delightfully black humour.

I guess I got my mischievous imagination from her.

Got so bad, that when I was four or five our next-door neighbour Lillian forbade her young niece Judy from visiting us, because that little tot Fergus was too bad an influence on little girls!

But people my age from the old neighbourhood whom I still see these days - those who are still around (and they’re getting scarcer and scarcer!) - picture my late Mom now as the grown-up lady who REALLY understood little kids like them.

They must have heard her recommend Geisel to them too, in those long ago and far-away days.

Yes, she loved to talk books. Books her own kids loved. Especially GOOD books, like we love to talk about here on GR!

Which is why huge waiting lists built up for certain new books at our tiny cubbyhole of a book emporium in our sleepy little village - her public library.

So back when Geisel’s first books appeared she went wild with delight - mentally foreseeing an elated bibliophilic clientele.

And THIS - The 500 Hats - was one of Geisel’s first.

And one of his BEST!

And, you know, I haven’t checked - but was Geisel also a mathematician?

For there’s nothing like the algebra of exponentially mushrooming hats to make a mathematician chuckle...

I can almost hear my mom roaring with laughter, somewhere far, far above us from up in Heaven, when she thinks of Dr Seuss now.

And who knows - maybe God picked Dr Seuss as the kiddies’ Court Jester up there!

Wonderful book unlike most Dr. Seuss I've read. Short, sweet, and simple. A very chill little story, definitely check it out!

Fantasy children's book.