Now, the Star-Belly Sneetches
Had bellies with stars.
The Plain-Belly Sneetches
Had none upon thars.
SO begins another classic Dr Seuss story.
The good doctor helped to bring me up and now he's entertaining my four year old. And I don't know which of the two of us enjoys the stories more.
The Sneetches has all the characteristics of classic Seuss: the ridiculous rhymes, the fantastic creatures, the jokes. And this one comes complete with a message, penned long before the age of political correctness. Prejudice is daft.
Our favourite story in this compendium, however, is Too Many Daves. Mrs McCave has 23 sons and she named them all Dave. And now she wishes she'd named "one of them Hoos-Foos. And one of them Snimm. And one of them Hot-Shot. And one Sunny Jim".
The book is part of a reissued series of Dr Seuss books, colour coded. The Sneetches is yellow, "ideal for fluent readers, and great fun practising reading aloud". One of my childhood favourites, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, is a blue back book, "ideal for sharing with your child".
If you don't have children, find one. Then you too can consult the fabulous Dr Seuss.
Chris and Jack Titley
Updated: 09:48 Wednesday, April 30, 2003
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