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Title: El Lorax by Dr. Seuss, Dr Seuss, Aida E. Marcuse ISBN: 1-880507-04-8 Publisher: Lectorum Pubns (Juv) Pub. Date: 01 January, 1993 Format: Library Binding Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.83 (58 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: The Lorax - Still Powerful After 30 Years
Comment: Children used to Dr. Seuss' lighthearted, whimsical stories filled with wacky names and places will undoubtedly perceive a vast difference with "The Lorax". It still contains the wacky names, places, and rhymes, so characteristic of Seuss, but with one blatant overtone. This story goes all out to show the devestating consequences of human greed, and what can happen to the environment when humans misuse and take advantage of nature and natural resources.
The story begins when a boy comes to the home of a peculair creature called Once-ler. The boy wants to know about something called the Lorax; "what it was", and "why it was there". After paying the Once-ler a small fee, he narrates the story for the boy. The pictures incorperated into the story are also poignant; for, as we see in the beginning, the small town in which the Once-ler lives is very grey and barren.
However, as the Once-ler begins his story, the pictures become brighter, more cheerful, and colorful, as we see how the town once looked, long, long ago. There were animals, birds, green grass ... and trees!
The Once-ler says, "I came to this glorious place. And I first saw the trees. The Truffula trees". Transfixed by these trees, the Once-ler cuts one down to make a "Thneed". Now, a Thneed is supposed to be a useful thing, which people can find many uses for. Shortly after the first tree is cut down, the Lorax appears. He explains that he talks on behalf of the trees, because the trees cannot talk for themselves. "They have no tongues".
The Lorax is very upset at what the Once-ler has done. But the Once-ler ignores him, and continues to cut down the trees to make Thneeds, until all the trees have been cut down. This action, of cutting down the trees, building a factory to make the thneeds, and releasing waste residue into the water is greatly illustrated in the pictures, showing the cause and effect of polluting the environment.
Eventually the pictures return to the grey, morbid colors we see in the beginning. The Lorax has had to make all the birds, animals and fish leave the town before they die of hunger and starvation, and before they choke to death on all the smog generated by the Once-ler's factory.
As we can clearly see in "The Lorax", Dr. Seuss is making a very defined political statement about how humans have manipulated and destroyed our natural surroundings for their own personal greed. "The Lorax" was written in 1971, in the hayday of environmental activism, and one year after the first Earth Day.
Still, Dr. Suess does not make this story into a gloomy one. He gives us hope. The Once-ler tosses down a seed to the boy; the one last remaining Truffula seed. With this one seed, Dr. Seuss tells us the possiblities are endless, and hope is not lost.
Rating: 5
Summary: The Lorax - A Touching Tale that Teaches
Comment: My mother use to read this story to me, now I read it to my son. "Way back in the days when the grass was still green and the pond was still wet and the clouds were still clean... one morning I came to this glorious place!"
But after the Onceler starts his industry in this glorious place the Lorax comes to visit him... "My poor Bar-ba-loots are all getting the crummies because they have gas and no food in their tummies... My poor Swomee-swans, why, they can't sing a note, no one can sing who has smog in his throat... You're glumping the pond where the Humming-Fish hummed. No more can they hum for their gills are all gummed."
So many of Dr Seuss' tales are not only fun to listen to and read, but teach valuable lessons to children, this book is no exception. I cannot recommend it enough!
Rating: 5
Summary: Inspiring for a lifetime
Comment: When I was in elementary school in the mid-1970s, probably around the age of 7 or 8, all the students in the school were assembled and shown the film of the Lorax. The film was very similar to the film of The Grinch that was made at about the same time and is now a video classic - - wonderful animation and great word-for-word narrative reading of the text. I had been unaware of the book before that. I remember very clearly being very moved and inspired by the tale, and I can trace part of my development as an environmentalist to it. I now work in environmental outreach/education, and every once in a while I get out the book of The Lorax and get re-inspired, especially by the line "UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." I still find the book very relevant to today. It's not extremist in any way. Even its depiction of the Once-ler is not as an evil man, but someone very recognizable. He doesn't mean harm, but "Business is business, and business must grow." Sound familiar? He doesn't recognize the damage he's causing, or understand just how painful and permanent it will be, until too late. This book reminds all of us to not take our beautiful world for granted, but to take responsibility for it.
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Title: The Sneetches and Other Stories by Dr. Seuss ISBN: 0394800893 Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers Pub. Date: 12 August, 1961 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Horton Hears a Who! by Dr. Seuss ISBN: 0394800788 Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers Pub. Date: 12 August, 1954 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Yertle the Turtle by Dr. Seuss ISBN: 0394800877 Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers Pub. Date: 12 April, 1958 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Green Eggs and Ham (I Can Read It All by Myself Beginner Books) by Dr. Seuss ISBN: 0394800168 Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers Pub. Date: 12 August, 1960 List Price(USD): $8.99 |
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Title: The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss ISBN: 039480001X Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers Pub. Date: 12 March, 1957 List Price(USD): $8.99 |
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