Green Eggs and Ham (Dr Seuss Green Back Books)

Who wouldn't find it appetising?
Who could read it realising
That things aren't always what they seem
Life can sometimes be a dream

And in that dream a wonder starts
That really strives to touch our hearts
with such a simple verse and tale
One could hardly think to fail

The premise here is most absurd
Using the most simple word
And no complex sentence structure
No moralistic high brow lecture

Just a simple tale of love
Hidden low and up above
And permeates on every page
To reach the souls of every age

Happy birthday to you this day
May you have your eggs your way
In heaven as we read below
The pleasing tale of eggs aglow

With some weird dye, an Irish egg?
I've had green beer, was it a keg?
But this should be a family verse
and green beer does become too terse

So now, dear friend, go buy the book
Open it up and take a look
You'll never be sorry, you'll never frown
This short tale won't let you down

And may you be just who you are
We're all Sam, both near and far
But we're ourselves, and this is true
This book was meant for me and you.

If Dr. Seuss is best known as the author of 'The Cat in the Hat', this text is a very close second. Its simple rhyme scheme and vocabulary is a perfect exemplar of Seussian construction, making it delightful for both children and adults. The vocabulary expands from that of 'The Cat in the Hat', making this almost a stealth-educational tool -- stealth in that children don't realise they're learning, and often adults don't realise that the playful use of language is educational.

This is a must for every child's library. They needn't be named Sam.


Dr. Seuss explores the principle of "try it, you'll like it"   May 4, 2004
 13 out of 19 found this review helpful

When Theodor "Ted" Seuss Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss, died at the age of 87 on September 24, 1991, the best tribute of all to the beloved author and illustrator of children's books came four days later when the Rev. Jeese Jackson read "Green Eggs and Ham" during the Weekend Update segment of the season premier of "Saturday Night Live." That performance was so unexpectedly moving that it is impossible for me to read this classic tale for beginning readers and not hear Jackson's rhythm and cadences.

The protagonist of "Green Eggs and Ham" expresses the fact that he does not like Sam-I-am, so when Sam-I-am asks him if he likes green eggs and ham the response is also a negative. The equating of the green eggs and ham with Sam-I-am is extended through a logical progression of places (here or there), circumstances (in a house with a mouse or in a box with a fox), to hyperbolic proportions (in a car on a boat with a goat on a train in the rain). Despite the insistence of Sam-I-am that the protagonist might enjoy the green eggs and ham if only he were to try them, it is not a compromise position is worked out (trying the green eggs and ham in exchange for end to being pestered to death) that the story reaches its climax and resolution.

While I appreciate the importance of the idea that somebody should try something before they dismiss it (a principle that applies to not only food but theatrical releases and political candidates), I do want to point out that many years after my childhood, during which time the information would have been of prime importance, scientists established that different things do indeed taste differently to different people. So it is possible not to like green eggs and ham (or spinach, for example), and not be a repudiation of the life work of Dr. Seuss. But you do have to at least give strange food a chance before you take an absolute position against eating it under any and all conceivable circumstances.