Early Books of Dr. Seuss

We checked out two books by Dr. Seuss that I had never seen before. The King's Stilts (1939) and Bartholomew and the Oobleck (1949). These two stories do not having the rhyming and rhythm of his more familiar works. They still held the attention of my kids nonetheless. On a side note, I hadn't read to Alex in a long time since he has been reading independently for awhile. He said afterward that he really liked it that I read these books to him.

I thought both stories were excellently written. The message in both books seemed to me to be: to stand up and fight for what you believe is right even if you are under extreme pressure not to. An important lesson for us all. There is also another message in The King's Stilts. "When you work, REALLY work. When you play, REALLY play." A kind of 'take time out to smell the roses' type message. This hit home for us right now, since Lisa has to spend all of her free time studying (Prayers for Lisa).