I received this book for free from the library in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: the library
The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories
by
Dr. Seuss
fantasy in Hardcover edition that was published by Random House for Young Readers on September 27, 2011 and has 72 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Sneetches and Other Stories, Horton Hatches the Egg & Horton Hears a Who!, Green Eggs and Ham, The Lorax, Hooray for Diffendoofer Day!, Daisy-Head Mayzie, Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose, The King's Stilts, Scrambled Eggs Super!, Bartholomew and the Oobleck, Horton and the Kwuggerbug and More Lost Stories, You're Only Old Once!, My Many Colored Days, McElligot's Pool, If I Ran the Circus, Sleep Book, I Can Lick 30 Tigers Today! and Other Stories, I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew, Oh, the Places You’ll Go!
An omnibus of seven early Dr. Seuss stories that had gotten lost. The illustrations in all the stories are great fun with that typical Dr. Seuss flair.
My Take
If you’re a children’s writer (or wanna be *grin*), do read the introduction by Charles D. Cohen to learn more about why Ted Geisel wrote as he did, what influenced him. That bit about three-year-old Brad having memorized a Dr. Seuss story is, as Cohen states, “a pivotal point in Dr. Seuss’s writing career”.
The Stories
“The Bippolo Seed” finds McKluck the duck being influenced into greed. And, oh, boy, you can have some fun with your child reading the long, long list of McKluck’s wishes and how silly they are.
“The Rabbit, the Bear, and the Zinniga-Zanniga” is quite funny as the rabbit proves that “It’s always the same when you fight with Big Guys…A bit of Quick-Thinking counts much more than size”.
Definitely a great topic to address with your kids about thinking being better than fighting. There’s also that great laugh over scamming that hypochondriacal bear.
“Gustav, the Goldfish” definitely appeals to me. I always feel bad that my kittens don’t get the variety or amount of food I feed myself, especially when they turn those great big eyes on me and plead with me to f-e-e-d them. They’re starving…
This could turn into a chat about responsibility to their pets and themselves.
“Tadd and Todd“
“Which one was what one, and what one was who.”
A story about twins with one who wants to be an individual, unique while the other likes being part of pair whom no one can tell apart. It’s all the things Tadd does, trying to be different, that provide a great opportunity to talk with your kids about being different and coming up with more and more sillier and sillier ideas. Although…how you could get sillier than Dr. Seuss…?
And, it seems, there is an inevitability about being a twin, lol.
“That I am just I, and that I am not he.”
“Steak for Supper” finds a little boy in great distress, for he had been bragging and manages to escape by the skin of the stew.
“The Strange Shirt Spot” makes me wonder if Dr. Seuss isn’t telling us that we can’t hide anything from our parents.
“The Great Henry McBride” is caught up in all the possibilities of a future career. Cohen does mention that Ted Geisel is the original Henry McBride with all the careers he pursued. I know there are quite a few of us who have explored different vocations, and Dr. Seuss explores them with all the gusto of youth.
That ending line cracks me up: “The best job is dreaming, with no work at all.”
The Cover and Title
The cover has a slightly grayed-out colonial blue background with a quick sketch of the characters in each of the stories. With McKluck the duck as he finds the bippolo seed, to Henry McBride dreaming under a tree, Tadd and Todd truckin’ along, the boy trying to clean out that spot, Gustav outgrowing his bowl, the blabbing young boy with his trailing line, and the bear and the rabbit. All in pure Dr. Seuss style.
The title is what it is, The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories.
