Book Review: The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss (2011/2/3)
1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Seuss, Dr. The Cat in the Hat. Boston: Random House, 1957. ISBN: 0394900014
2. PLOT SUMMARY
On a frigid, rainy day, a little boy and his sister were home alone watching the bad weather outside through the window. Suddenly, a stranger, a happy, mischievous cat wearing a hat, got into their house and showed them some fun games. No matter what the two children and their pet fish said, the strange cat still insisted that they do things his way. First of all, the cat performed different types of wacky tricks, but they failed to amuse the children. Later on, he brought in a wooden box from outside. Inside the box were two creatures, named Thing One and Thing Two who begin to fly kites inside the house. The two little creatures were completely out of control and tore the house apart. The family pet fish protested the Cat's actions, but it proved to be in vain. In the end, the little boy used a net to catch the two Things and bring the Cat under control. To make up for all the trouble he has caused, the Cat in the Hat cleans up the house entirely and leaves one second before the mother got home.
3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
In this picture book, Dr. Seuss created the main character, a cat in the hat, to express a little child's imagination when they are stranded inside the house on a raining cold day. I believe the story is well-designed and fun for children because of the tone of story, the characters, and the plot structure.
Using the little boy’s point of view, Dr. Seuss conveys the feelings of the children who feel a little bored and desired to do something out of the ordinary while stuck inside in the cold rainy weather. Based on the first person point of view, young readers could share similar feelings as the boy.
Through the characters, Dr. Seuss created diverse vivid main characters, including the protagonist (the cat in the hat), the antagonist (fish), and silent characters (Sally and mother). The opposing characters, the cat and fish, made the story more fun and mischievous, especially when the author created a lot of humorous dialogue between the two characters.
For example, when the cat insisted on performing his new tricks, the fish kept saying "No, No, make that cat go away". When the cat put the fish up to his hat, the fish said put me down. When I read the dialogue, I laughed loudly. The interaction between the unique characters makes me love the story more and more.
In the plot structure, the author put several conflicts in the story making readers want to know the result quickly. The first conflict is whether or not the two little children should allow the cat inside the house while their parents were gone. The other conflict is how to deal with the problem created by the two small creatures, Thing One and Thing Two. After the boy asked the cat to leave, the two children showed their surprise and hopelessness for all of mess and disorder that the cat had created in their house. At the last second, the cat returned and solved all of the problems he left for them. There is no gap between the plot and the story was followed by an opening (two children sitting inside the house looking out the window with the bad, cold, and rainy weather), development (the cat showing his own fun games and tricks), conflict (how to deal with the mess in the last second before mother got home), and a closed ending (problem solved). I especially liked the end of the story, when the author asked readers what they would do if they were the two children.
I also found more interesting advantages of this book after I read it again and again. Dr. Seuss used rhymes and echoes to make it easy for young readers to follow and read.
Rhymes
Rhymes were designed in the book using simple words. For example, the obvious rhymes are cat and hat, play and day. On pages one, two, seven, eight, thirteen, and so on, Dr. Seuss used four sentences in each paragraph. At the end of each sentence, there is a rhyming word that ends every line of verse, such as play and day, two and do, ball and all, sunny and funny, as well as all and fall.
Repeating pattern- Echo
The author utilized some repeating patterns throughout the book. A good children's picture book should present some repeating patterns for young readers because it would help them to memorize and easily follow the pattern and story. For example, every time that the cat put something new on his hat for the performance, he would say “that is not all.” Therefore, readers could predict what the cat would say next when he put more stuff on his hat or hand.
In summary, this book is well-designed with rhymes, simple words, repeating patterns, and active characters. By reading this book, children also could reflect on whether or not they should allow a stranger inside their home or what they would do if they were the two children in a similar situation. In addition, the actions and results are all represented by colorful illustrations, so children can see the funny moments while reading the book.
4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
Dr. Seuss created forty-four children's books.
The Cat in the Hat is his first children's book.
He earned Emmy awards, a Peabody award and the Pulitzer Prize (Dr. Seuss Enterprises, 2011; Wikipedia, 2011)
5. CONNECTIONS
Dr. Seuss created many rhymed children's books. One of the most famous books in the Cat in the Hat series is The Cat in the Hat Comes Back (Wikipedia, 2011). It was published by Random House and has the same main characters in the book as the original, but he brings other cats in the hat instead of Thing One and Thing Two. The book is an alphabet book with rhymes using the same main characters with story development (Wikipedia, 2011). Young readers can learn the alphabet in a fun way from this book. Other books are not from the same publisher, but they also used some of the same main characters and designed rhymes in the books, such as The Cat in the Hat Song Book and The Cat’s Quizzer (Dr. Seuss Enterprises, 2011; Wikipedia, 2011).
Seuss, Dr. The Cat in the Hat Comes Back. CA: Random House, 1958. ISBN: 9780394800028
Reference
“The Cat in the Hat,” Wikipedia, accessed Jan 1st, 2011, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cat_in_the_Hat
“Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden at the Springfield Museums,” . http://www.catinthehat.org/history.htm
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