Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Dr. Seuss on the loose!



There's a vote for authors at the Great Wednesday Compare, and today it is between Jane Austen and Dr. Seuss. If you have an opinion, click on the link above and go vote! Here's my vote, following the one I responded to:

Sam Houston said...
It's still Austen for me. The Doc was great for kids, beyond a doubt, but I seriously doubt that I will ever be tempted to pick up one of his books again.

Bonnie Jacobs said...
Oh, no, Sam! It's gotta be Dr. Seuss! His books for children are fun for (some) adults, like me, but there are also books written for those of us older than three. A couple of books come to mind: Oh, the Places You'll Go! and You're Only Old Once: A Book for Obsolete Children.

What about The Lorax? "Unless someone like you ... cares a whole awful lot ... nothing is going to get better ... It's not." Long before saving the earth became a global concern, the Lorax warned against mindless progress and the danger it posed to the earth's natural beauty. And the Sneetches teach us a lot about discrimination.

I had to buy Green Eggs and Ham twice for my nephew because he read the first copy to death. How many times did my children read One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, and To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, and Hop on Pop, and Fox in Sox, and Horton Hears a Who, and Cat in the Hat as they were learning to read? More times than I can count.

And the Grinch is now more important to Christmas than Rudolph! Seuss is popular with people of all ages, sizes, and shapes. Austen? Not as many. Of course, my vote is for Seuss.

~~~ Bonnie, an obsolete child

13 comments:

CJ said...

I'm with you, Bonnie. I voted for Seuss. The man was a genius and kids will be reading his books long after I'm gone.

Not that Austen won't be around but for me, it's important to get kids reading. Otherwise, no one will care enough to read Austen.

cjh

Sam said...

Hey, no fair posting a photo of all those little Seuss fans. Now I'm feeling guilty about my vote. :-)

Bonnie Jacobs said...

CJ, well said!

Sam-I-Am (sorry, I couldn't resist), all's fair in love and books. As CJ said, gotta get those kids reading so we'll have readers in the next generation.

And aren't those little Seuss fans cute?

Anonymous said...

Seuss certainly did corner the market on fun at the expense of no one.

I love kids, but I feel like squishing those hats down.

Roary Lyon said...

All of you are invited to visit my lion's den, The Literary Lion of Lyon. My mate Sophia has delivered our first cubs. Yes, twins!

Roary ^..^ we have two ^..^

Jennifer said...

Well, I voted, I think. At least, I clicked on Suess's photo and name (and got taken to a larger photo and his wiki) so I don't know if it counted. Even though I've read Austen more recently, Seuss was a staple growing up and much more fun.

Heading over to congratulate Roary on his new twins (I actually have a stuffed tiger on my desk lamp named roary, lol).

John Mutford said...

Neco: No, to vote you need to add a comment to the post indicating who you pick.

Bonnie: Thanks for linking to my blog!

Anonymous said...

Hmph. I can't believe that Dewey voted for Austen. Why, Austen never even mentions lions, whereas Seuss is full of them. I can see you are a more sensible woman than she is.

Bonnie Jacobs said...

Thank you, Louis, I do believe I am a sensible woman. But so is Dewey, in my opinion.

Unknown said...

I love Jane Austen, but I have to agree with you, Bonnie, it would have to be Dr Seuss for me too!

Jennifer said...

Thanks, John, I went back over and voted correctly. =^)

Stephanie said...

Oh yes...Dr. Seuss is the man!! My kids love him and I do too (although after the thousandth reading of The Foot Book and Green Eggs and Ham I'm getting just a wee bit tired of him!)

Like I said at John's, I still remember going to the library in grade school and checking out Horton Hears a Hoo a couple of times. Actually my personal favorite is Bartholomew and the Oobleck, which not many people remember!

Kelly said...

What a great picture. I always liked seuss. Did you know the word nerd came from a Dr. Seuss book?