The Lorax is a children’s book that is very well known and popular, most people think of it as a classic. I was surprised to find out that it is a very highly rated controversial children’s book. The reasoning behind it being controversial is people think that it criminalizes the foresting industry. In the book, one of the main characters named the Once-ler finds a land full of trees and begins chopping them all down so that he can produce a project. People believe that it is setting children up to be against logging, and think that it is a wrong doing.

My thought on the story is that I can see where people may think that it is controversial and portraying the logging industry in a bad light, but by the end of the story the Once-ler makes it right and begins to grow more trees. Obviously we need the logging industry to be able to have our many amenities in life, but I do believe that we need to respect nature and only take what we need. Whereas in the story the Once-ler is taking more than he needs, and not being respectful of the environment around him.

Overall, I don’t think that it is a story that needs to be banned, there are a lot of great lessons that can come from the story. And it is a classic that many children and even adults enjoy.

i’m in my lorax era

The moment when you realize that the Lorax needed Dr. Dre.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgMsm...

One of my absolute favorite Dr. Seuss books!
Best way to teach people how to care about their environment.

Watch here

excellent exploration of capitalism, greed and how factories/big companies can lead to deforestation and im not even kidding

This is easily Dr.seuss' best book I've read so far. It's full of rich moral tips for kids reading the story. They'll bump into concepts of greed , saving this planet , importance of every individual in changing the world we live in and maybe even more worthy things for the first time.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. If there'd be a particular motive inside me to be a father someday, it'd definitely be due to the drive of reading these awesome children stories to my kid!

This gets five stars for being beautifully written, and one for being heavy handed, which averages out to four for me. I'm a conservationist, but there is no nuance in The Lorax's presentation of environmentalism: the book simply demonizes business.

The Once-ler is an extreme negative caricature of the capitalist: what he offers society as an entrepreneur is not valuable in any way, he has no regard for anything but his own profit, and he proceeds with reckless abandon. Of course, in a world that is not an emotionally manipulative moral fable, the Once-ler would have planted many more Truffula trees LONG before they became extinct, because when a resource is profitable and replenishable, any capitalist with even half a brain replenishes it. On the other hand, I suppose the Lorax could be said also to be an extreme negative caricature of the environmentalist: he pops on the scene sporadically to scold with righteous indignation, offers no compromise, accomplishes nothing, leaves the costs of realizing his cause to others, and literally flies by the seat of his pants. (And yet I've never heard an environmentalist complain about the Lorax's lack of complexity.)

Nevertheless, despite its caricatures and lack of nuance, I cannot deny the overall quality and effect of the story. The mood setting is phenomenal, and I'm always amazed that the Dr. Seuss books, no matter how long, hold my preschooler's attention the entire time. Other books half that long would not do so. I don't remember particularly caring about this one when I read it as a child. As an adult, however, from a purely literary perspective, it strikes me as being among his best. It's a superbly effective piece of propaganda, and, if I weren’t so concerned about balance, compromise, and critical thinking, I'd give it five stars. Perhaps, however, I shouldn't be so concerned: after all, isn't most children's literature painted in sweeping strokes of black and white? Children don't think with the critical faculties of adults, and what is my daughter really going to take away from this? (A) Capitalism is evil and I should never start my own business, or (B) I should plant a tree! I hope it will be only (B), and (B) is not a bad thing at all.

Yesss Dr Seuss fuck capitalism fuck climate change

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
nothing is going to get better. It's not.

Author/Illustrator: Dr Seuss
First published: 1971

The ankle-biter had seen the animated movie The Lorax with her cousins and was keen to read the book. I was wary because a) I understood the movie was substantially different to the book, and b) her reading ability (vocab and comprehension) IMO surpassed Dr Seuss. BUT she'd been "studying" Dr Seuss at school in relation to poetry so I picked up the book and movie for some family time.

And found an unexpectedly enjoyable book with a lesson on conservation, deforestation and anti-consumerism. Typical of Dr Seuss the language has a beautiful rhythm, rhyme and humour which just screams "Read Aloud!".

I'm putting my prejudices aside and pulling out the Dr Seuss to mix with the Dahl's. They are fun, and they encourage the listener to participate and enjoy *language*.

Extras
- Classroom discussion questions from Seussville .com.
-There are various Lorax Apps available including the official one, a storybook app .

Phonics vs Whole Language
The school my daughters attend has always used a combination of phonics and whole language to teach reading. They were given "sight words" to learn - pattern match the word without thinking about the letters and sounds they make, as well as placing the word within the reading context to "guess" what it would be. And they were shown how to break a word into bite-size chunks to sound out the word.

Dr Seuss (and in this context, "The Lorax") won't allow a reader to depend solely on one method. His original words ("Barbaloots", "Truffula") require a phonetic interpretation, but also the contextual understanding to make sense of them. And then there are his rhymes which defy a purely phonetic reading (eg trees and please, "Barbaloot suit"). It makes his books a greater challenge, and also a more interesting read, than many adults (including me) realise.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teaching...

Age (taking into account comprehension, concentration, language):
Read aloud - 5+
Read yourself - 7+ (typical Suess playing with words makes a once simple vocabulary challenging)

(ISBN 9780007173112)

A great book, especially if you want to impress on your children why conservation of resources is so important. It seems Dr. Seuss was way ahead of his times.

“The Lorax” is one of Dr. Seuss’ most memorable books as it is about the importance of taking care of all of the trees in the world. “The Lorax” may have some controversial issues, but it is still a great book for both children and adults to treasure for many years.

Dr. Seuss’ story about how chopping down too many trees can destroy the Earth’s environment is truly powerful and moving as it realistically portrays what can happen to the environment when trees are cut down through Dr. Seuss’ childish world. Dr. Seuss’ illustrations as always are extremely creative and inventive especially when we are first introduced to the land of the Truffula trees, the land is colourful and peaceful looking, but when the once-ler starts cutting down all the Truffula trees, the land looks dark and bleak, representing the pollution that is caused from cutting down the trees.

Parents should know that even though I personally do not see anything wrong with this book, this book was considered extremely controversial due to the fact that many people believed that the book was trying to promote the idea that industrialization is a bad thing. Personally, I think that this book was just trying to discuss about the issues of environmentalism and that cutting down too many trees can cause pollution on the earth.

“The Lorax” is one of the greatest books about the issues of environmentalism that kids will understand perfectly and will definitely be evolved into one of the greatest cult classics to ever come to the world of children’s books. I would recommend this book to children ages five and up due to the controversial material about whether or not industrialization is a good or bad thing for the world that small children might not understand.

Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog