UNLESS.....It's Up To You..says The Lorax
Written: Sep 09 '01 (Updated Oct 20 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: The author; teaches one of the best lessons we can learn.
Cons: The words will be hard to read for little ones.
The Bottom Line: A great educational book for children of all ages done in Dr. Seuss' silly, rhyming style. A must, must, must have book!
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| jo.com's Full Review: |
I wrote a 100 word review of The Lorax when I first started writing here and deleted it a long time ago. When asked what my favorite children’s book is and what my children’s favorite one was, many came to mind. I chose this one because it is more than just a cute Dr. Seuss book.
My introduction:
The Lorax is not one of Dr. Suess’ most famous books. In fact over the years when I have recommended it to people they didn’t know of it. There aren't enough stars to adequately rate The Lorax!
I can’t say that the book made my children care about the environment. Maybe at very young ages they were just naturally environmentally conscious. Or perhaps it was my concern for the environment which rubbed off on them and it was I who liked the book so much that they learned to love it through me. All I can say is that, in my opinion, it is one of, if not, the most important book Dr. Seuss wrote. Although a children’s book, the message is for everyone.
Written in 1971, my children were not even born yet. Not only do I feel lucky that I found this book but we also had the opportunity to see it as a children’s play one Sunday afternoon many, many years ago. That was a special treat and made The Lorax come alive even more so than he does in the book. He does very well in the book, though; the play was more like frosting!
Although The Lorax is written in traditional Seuss rhyming style the words in this book present a bit more challenge than Cat in The Hat, for example. You will be reading this to your children for a while until they are old enough to either master the words or giggle over them when they pronounce them wrong. Who cares! Don’t worry about pronouncing words such as Grickle, Truffula, Barbaloots and Sneed. You might get tangled up in the words; some of the phrases sound like tongue twisters. Don’t let that bother you or your child. Have fun with it. Having fun with The Lorax will get the message across a lot better than any lecture on the importance of preserving our environment.
The characters:
~The Lorax speaks for the trees, “for the trees have no tongues and I’m asking you, sir, at the top of my lungs..” The Lorax speaks for others, for example he speaks for the poor Swomee-Swans “why, they can’t sing a note! No one can sing who has smog in his throat.”
~Once-ler stays “in his Lurkim on top of his store. He lurks in his Lerkim…” The Once-ler knows what happened “at the far end of town where the Grickle-grass grows and the wind smells slow and sour when it blows.”
The story:
The story is about what happened to a town because of greed. The Once-ler is the character who tells the story, “Way back in the days when the grass was still green and the pond was still wet and the clouds were still green…”
We learn how animals, called Brown Bar-ba-loots, played and ate Truffula Fruits. We learn how the Humming-Fish splashed around and we learn that the Once-ler chopped down a Truffula Fruit tree to make a Thneed. A Thneed, according to Once-ler is “a fine-something-that-all people need.”
And sure enough the Thneed started to sell and the Once-ler had to make his factory bigger and bigger.
The Lorax continues to speak for the trees, telling Once-ler, “which you have been chopping as fast as you please.” The Lorax sends away the Swomee-Swans and the Humming Fish because of the smog and of course he worries about them. But the Once-ler gets mad at the Lorax telling him he will continue doing what he is doing – turning “more Trufula Trees into Thneeds which everyone, everyone, everyone needs!”
Eventually, the last Tree falls and there is no work....all that is left is the “smoke smuggered stars, the big empty factory, The Lorax and I.”
The Lorax left a small pile of rocks with the word UNLESS. The Once-ler didn’t understand the word until he told the story to the children. (“Now that you’re here, the word of the Lorax seems perfectly clear.")
I won’t finish the story for you. Read it and find out The Lorax’s message as conveyed by Once-ler. I promise you this is a book, you will read over and over again...that is if you care.
The illustrations:
The illustrations which are in bold colors- green, purple, pink, blue- are somewhat magical and at times they don’t appear real. That is because, I think, Dr. Seuss captivated the text through his pictures and much of the text isn't real. There are no such thing as Thneeds or Trufula Trees. It may take a little bit of reading into what Dr. Seuss is saying with his pictures. For example, you and your child can have fun figuring out that the green tip at the end of a hand is a Snuvv, “his secret strange hole in his gruvulous glove.”
The characters may look silly to your children and that is the fun of it. I love the fact that they are learning in such a delightful way. The message is a strong one and learning it through make-believe characters makes it a lesson much more easily learned.
Final Thoughts:
The Lorax isn’t considered a beginner book. The age range is listed as 4-8 but in my opinion a 4-year-old would be very challenged by this book. The age range is taken from Amazon.com. The words are difficult and it should be read to your child until they want to read it themselves or know it by heart, which is most likely what will happen. Once your children figure out the meaning of the pictures they will find that the pictures are so vivid they tell the story in their own right and if the book weren’t done by the fabulous Dr. Seuss words wouldn’t be necessary. His rhyming, and at times, silly sounding sentences will captivate your child and you.
61 pages (September 1971)
Random House (Merchandising); ISBN: 0394823370 ; Dimensions in inches): 0.47 x 11.39 x 8.38
This is a hardcover book and is selling at amazon.com for for $11.96. The best price today at half.com is $10.00 (It was $7.00 last week!)
Dr. Seuss has written and illustrated more than 50 books among them, Green Ham and Eggs, Hop on Pop and Fox in Socks. Check out http://www.randomhouse.com/seussville/ for the Sneetch Beach Party.
This is an entry for My Kids Favorite Write-Off (Kids media) hosted by Mary Tara. Thanks for putting this together (even though I had to do an outside search to find this book in spite of the fact it was in the database!) and to Shurie for the write-off page.
The list of participants are:
adjensen * ali78 * bearysweet * blackcat2 * bops_mom * clpurser * cripper * dearladyb*
deaser26 *debbie26* destinys-child * *dgturtle2* donnie013 * eplovejoy * fallyn96 * jo.com * kcfemme * khahn86351 *kimzstuffz* KMINER * kurt_g * ledomaine * lisaw1215 * lorinsilver *marytara * melissasrn * mellkinwa * micheich * mkmama42 * mommykim * mtbat * Photogirl814 * quasar * shantel575 * sloving * social14 * staceys1 * Tammyinmiami *
westerbear * willeftk * 77chelle
You can find all the entries at:
http://marytara.iSPARKL.com
Recommended:
Yes
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