A Hatful of Seuss: Five Favorite Dr. Seuss Stories: Horton Hears A Who! / If I Ran the Zoo / Sneetches / Dr. Seuss's Sleep Book / Bartholomew and the Oobleck
This collection of five complete, illustrated Dr. Seuss classics is a "hatful," but you'd have to have a Cat-in-the-Hat-sized chapeau to contain all the treasures in this hefty book. Within its pages you'll find Theodor Seuss Geisel's exuberant creationsBartholomew and the Oobleck(1949),If I Ran the Zoo(1950),Horton Hears a Who!(1954),The Sneetches and Other Stories(1961), andDr.  Seuss's Sleep Book(1962). InBartholomew and the Oobleck, a non-rhyming Seuss story, prepare for an eyeful of green goo. InIf I Ran the Zoo, young Gerald McGrew decides he would make a few changes ifheran the zoo--including the acquisition of more unusual beasts (such as an Elephant-Cat) from places "quite out-of-the-way." In addition to the potentially unsettling concept of traversing continents in search of wild beasts to trap and cage, there are a couple of dated references that parents may want to preview before reading to kids. For example, McGrew proclaims, "I'll hunt in the mountains of Zomba-ma-Tant/With helpers who all wear their eyes at a slant,/And capture a fine fluffy bird called the Bustard/Who only eats custard with sauce made of mustard."As for the rest of this delightful collection,Horton Hears a Who!is a tale that teaches us "a person's a person, no matter how small." And of course, you may remember the Star-Belly Sneetches, the "snooty old smarties" who pranced antagonistically in front of the Plain-Belly Sneetches, or Mrs. McCave who had 23 sons and named them all Dave. Finally,Dr. Seuss's Sleep Bookis about the snortiest snorers, the curious sleepwalking Crandalls, World-Champion Sleep-Talkers, and other somnambulant types--a perfect bedtime finale to a book that could keep youngsters entertained all night.(All ages)