No, the places YOU'LL go.

Sure, COME ON IN.


When I say, as I do with some regularity, "I hate Dr. Seuss," I don't mean it as criticism of his work for any kind of aesthetic or political shortcoming, and obviously I don't have anything against the man himself. What I mean is that The Cat and the Hat, etc. made five-year-old me very, very nervous. Never one of Nature's anarchists, I craved order in the world, not some freak busting into my house and upsetting the goldfish and my beloved routines. But I can see why he's an icon of childhood and children's literature. A big enough icon, in fact, that one could probably divide the Western world into people who as children did or did not love Seuss, like those personality profilers that sort us all by blood type.  What does our Seuss position say about us? Anyway,  thank goodness for our correspondent Megan Dowd Lambert, who here offers you a tour of the new museum dedicated to the artist's life and work.
Roger Sutton
Roger Sutton

Editor Emeritus Roger Sutton was editor in chief of The Horn Book, Inc., from 1996-2021. He was previously editor of The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books and a children's and young adult librarian. He received his MA in library science from the University of Chicago in 1982 and a BA from Pitzer College in 1978.

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Nancy Werlin

I was also terrified by The Cat and identified STRONGLY with the lecturing goldfish.

Posted : Jun 17, 2017 11:31


Joanne Rubenstein

I was not a Dr. Seuss fan either as a child. P.D. Eastman was more my style. I think Dr. Suess is the default favorite of non-reading adults, as evidenced by Oh the Places You'll Go, which is just an exercise in platitudes and nonsense rhyming.

Posted : Jun 16, 2017 07:29


Marcia Zorn

My professor of children's literature, when I did my master's degree in library and information science in the mid-70s, REALLY disliked Dr. Seuss, and said that reading his books would bring about the demise of children enjoying reading - hmmm. I did not use his books as a K-1st teacher, nor with my own children, or promote them in my school library (yes, I felt I had to have them available) until last year's birthday celebration for Dr. Seuss, my 44th year as an educator. I read _Horton..._ to several classes and found that I enjoyed it and the students did, too, but I still cannot get over the feeling of guilt when I replace worn copies for our library!

Posted : Jun 15, 2017 09:50


Kathy Wolf

I agree with you about some of his work, like most of the easy readers, and some of his more didactic stuff. However, The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins and The King's Stilts are great books! I loved those books as a kid, and I love them today!

Posted : Jun 15, 2017 09:34


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