Horton Hatches the Egg is part of Dr. Seuss's classic collection. This rhyming book teaches perseverance, keeping promises, and what I call happy endings without the fairy tale. Basically that means a happy ending without prince charming coming to the rescue--a happy ending as a reward to your own hard work and perseverance. Those kind of happy endings are my favorite! Personally, I'm tired of waiting for my Prince Charming to come rescue me.
Anyway, this book is an easy and enjoyable read with vivid yet simple illustrations. The basic story is about a lazy bird named Mayzie and a nice elephant named Horton. Mayzie the lazy bird has laid an egg but is getting tired of doing her motherly duty of sitting on the nest so she asks Horton to do it. After some hesitation from Horton and persuasion from Mayzie, Horton agrees to sit on the nest. And the repeated (perseverance) phrase of the book is "I meant what I said and I said what I meant... An elephant's faithful one hundred per cent!" And in the end of the book when the egg is hatched and Mayzie wants the hatchling back, Horton's perseverance and faithfulness is paid off. When all the work and unpleasant parts were taken care of, Mayzie wants to come back for the pleasant and rewarding parts.
Dr. Seuss does a great job not only creating a story about hard work and perseverance that kids really need to know early on, but his illustrations are also so vivid and imaginative. The pictures also have this simple quality about them because of his use of only four colors and shading. For some reason, this really makes certain aspects of the pictures on each page stand out in its own certain way. The illustrations magicly connect the story with one's imagination.
Anyway, this book is an easy and enjoyable read with vivid yet simple illustrations. The basic story is about a lazy bird named Mayzie and a nice elephant named Horton. Mayzie the lazy bird has laid an egg but is getting tired of doing her motherly duty of sitting on the nest so she asks Horton to do it. After some hesitation from Horton and persuasion from Mayzie, Horton agrees to sit on the nest. And the repeated (perseverance) phrase of the book is "I meant what I said and I said what I meant... An elephant's faithful one hundred per cent!" And in the end of the book when the egg is hatched and Mayzie wants the hatchling back, Horton's perseverance and faithfulness is paid off. When all the work and unpleasant parts were taken care of, Mayzie wants to come back for the pleasant and rewarding parts.
Dr. Seuss does a great job not only creating a story about hard work and perseverance that kids really need to know early on, but his illustrations are also so vivid and imaginative. The pictures also have this simple quality about them because of his use of only four colors and shading. For some reason, this really makes certain aspects of the pictures on each page stand out in its own certain way. The illustrations magicly connect the story with one's imagination.
No comments:
Post a Comment