Since I'm pretty much the world's greatest parent, I read books to my two or so week old daughter. I know she can't understand but I've heard it's important. I haven't read out loud since elementary school, so I'm rediscovering a lost skill. In addition, my sister said she's read books to her twins every night they've been home since they were born. There's no way I'm going to fall behind my sister.
Earlier this week I selected Dr. Suess' classic, "The Cat in the Hat." It had been a while since I had read the book; in fact, it's possible I never did. I was always more of a "Green Eggs and Ham" kind of guy.
I get that with kids books there's a whole suspension of disbelief thing that's pretty much a prerequisite; however, that isn't going to stop me from offering my thoughts. First off, how plausible is it that a cat rings someone's doorbell and immediate treats someone else's house like some sort of amusement park. The only thing I can even come close to comparing it to was my first couple years out of college when myself and a couple buddies lived a block from Wrigley Field. Seemingly every weekend we'd have some sort of visitors coming into town, tearing through our apartment and the north side of Chicago, and leaving a path of destruction. At least the Cat...
<SPOILER ALERT>
...ultimately comes back and cleans up. Something our fraternity brothers never seemed to stick around for.
The other thing I struggle with about this book is exactly who's in charge of taking care of the children while their mother is away. It's pretty obvious they're not old enough to be left alone and the lone authority figure and voice of reason is a fish. I'll grant you that in the land of children's books it's plausible that an animal might be designated as a temporary caregiver, but a fish? Is there a more ill-equipped member of the animal kingdom to care for human children than a fish?
Even though the key message I took from this story was that the two children were obviously neglected and quite possibly unloved, it's still a fun read, though probably not age-appropriate for a 17 day old. As with most Suess classics, there's a lot of rhyming and ridiculousness. And couldn't we all use a little more ridiculousness in our lives?
Earlier this week I selected Dr. Suess' classic, "The Cat in the Hat." It had been a while since I had read the book; in fact, it's possible I never did. I was always more of a "Green Eggs and Ham" kind of guy.
I get that with kids books there's a whole suspension of disbelief thing that's pretty much a prerequisite; however, that isn't going to stop me from offering my thoughts. First off, how plausible is it that a cat rings someone's doorbell and immediate treats someone else's house like some sort of amusement park. The only thing I can even come close to comparing it to was my first couple years out of college when myself and a couple buddies lived a block from Wrigley Field. Seemingly every weekend we'd have some sort of visitors coming into town, tearing through our apartment and the north side of Chicago, and leaving a path of destruction. At least the Cat...
<SPOILER ALERT>
...ultimately comes back and cleans up. Something our fraternity brothers never seemed to stick around for.
The other thing I struggle with about this book is exactly who's in charge of taking care of the children while their mother is away. It's pretty obvious they're not old enough to be left alone and the lone authority figure and voice of reason is a fish. I'll grant you that in the land of children's books it's plausible that an animal might be designated as a temporary caregiver, but a fish? Is there a more ill-equipped member of the animal kingdom to care for human children than a fish?
Even though the key message I took from this story was that the two children were obviously neglected and quite possibly unloved, it's still a fun read, though probably not age-appropriate for a 17 day old. As with most Suess classics, there's a lot of rhyming and ridiculousness. And couldn't we all use a little more ridiculousness in our lives?
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