Dr. Seuss's ABC

Last updated

Dr. Seuss's ABC
Dr. Seuss's ABC.jpg
Author Dr. Seuss
IllustratorDr. Seuss
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreChildren's literature
Publisher Random House
Publication date
1963
Media typePrint (hardback and paperback)
OCLC 704109017
Preceded by Dr. Seuss's Sleep Book  
Followed by Hop on Pop  

Dr. Seuss's ABC, otherwise referred to as The ABC, is a 1963 English language alphabet book written by Dr. Seuss starring two anthropomorphic yellow dogs named Ichabod and Izzy as they journey through the alphabet and meet characters whose names begin with each letter. It was read as an audiobook by British comedian Rik Mayall as part of the 2000 audio release The Dr. Seuss Collection.

Contents

Publication history

Dr. Seuss drew inspiration from memories of his mother, Nettie Geisel, who read stories to Ted and his sister, Marnie Geisel, at bedtime. He and Marnie also took piano lessons. Marnie practiced daily while he could be bribed with books. Whenever he did well, she took him to Johnson's Book Store and let him choose a book as a reward. Dr. Seuss's ABC was published as a Beginner Book in 1963, alongside Hop on Pop . [1]

Reception

Peter Lewis, writing for Common Sense Media , gave the book positive reviews, stating "Dr. Seuss turns the alphabet from fifty-two shapes and twenty-six sounds one has to memorize into an exercise in rhymery and wordplay. Uppercase and lowercase letters are taken for a spirited airing, matched with an apt selection of fun words, all set in the suitably absurd world of Seuss characters and creatures". He also compared the book to Dr. Seuss ("Seuss, faithful to his mission, entertainingly and effectively delivers the educational goods – in this case, the alphabet. The letters each take a turn in the spotlight and then are wedded to a few well-chosen words that convey the Seuss worldview of the high humor to be found in mental play: 'Many mumbling mice are making midnight music in the moonlight ... mighty nice.'") Peter Lewis commented that Dr. Seuss's illustrations "are all about possibility – quacking quacker-oo, policeman in a pail, ten tired turtles on a tuttle-tuttle tree – that same sense rubs off on the letters: Here, take these letters, they're fun! Rub 'em together and see what you come up with. There is no better way to take the anxiety out of something than to make friends with it." The other good review was "Families can talk about letters and the sounds they make. Think of words that start with the same letter sound – see how many you can string together in a silly sentence or phrase." [2]

Sam Tyler, writing for The Bookbag, called it "a hard book to consider as it is great fun, but also a little maddening". He also stated that "The ABC book is something that toddlers will use early on as a foundation to build later reading on. If they can learn their alphabet, they can develop their words. Most ABCs are super simple with easy to understand and recognise objects representing the letter. This is not that book. Seuss plucked ideas from his books and imagination and threw them onto the page. This means that this ABC outing is more varied and fun than most, but it also a little difficult to follow?" [3]

In the essay "In O Is for" Mouse": First Encounters with the Alphabet Book", Laura B. Smolkin and David B. Yaden, Jr. compared the book to another alphabet book, A is for Angry by Sandra Boynton, stating in the book, "there are frequent changes in the color and size of the letters from page to page." [4] [5]

The Washington Post called it one of "the best-selling Dr. Seuss books of all time". [6]

In From A to Z: An Exhibition of ABC Books Selected from the John O.C. McCrillis Collection by Alesandra M. Schmidt, she references "Ten tired turtles on a tuttle-tuttle tree" in Case 8, stating, while comparing the book to Apricot ABC by Miska Miles, "Ecolological awareness of the 1960s is evident in the imaginative story of an apricot that falls to the ground in a meadow (#48). Bees, birds, and flowers discover the apricot, which finally is eaten to its seed by a chicken and, eventually, becomes a new, young apricot tree. Another kind of tree is seen in Dr. Seuss's alphabet book (#45)--the "tuttle-tuttle tree," for "ten tired turtles." [7] [8]

Adaptations

In the 1995 CD-ROM game by Living Books, Ichabod and Izzy appear on every page and they find out more things that also begin with each letter.

This book has an iOS and Android app by Oceanhouse Media.

An augmented reality app version of the book was created by Sugar Creative. [9]

At The Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum, The Readingville Exhibit houses The ABC Wall, an interactive larger-than-life wall version of Dr. Seuss's ABC, which allowed children to touch various letters, hear the phonetic sound of the letter being pressed, and see the artwork from the book appear on the wall with the associated text below. [10] [11]

In Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography , James N. Kirkpatrick, MD, director of the Echocardiography Laboratory at the UW Medical Center and associate professor of medicine, uses the letters E for Echocardiography, S for Sinister structural shortcomings, and C for Congestive heart failure from the book in ABCD's of Heart Failure: Echo-ing through the First Stage to outline the stages of heart failure, stating, "In his insightful and witty educational offering, Dr. Seuss’s ABC, Theodor Seuss Geisel 1 poses the intriguing rhetorical question “Big A, little a, what begins with A?” He might have answered, “An amalgamated assemblage of advancing ailments affecting the heart” (it works better if you consider the h to be silent.) Dr. Seuss contributed much to world literature but missed the opportunity to create a classification of cardiac conditions". [12]

Legacy

In the 2008 American animated film Horton Hears a Who! , yaks (which resembled the Yawning Yellow Yak, including Katie (voiced by Joey King [13] ), appear as residents of the Jungle of Nool. [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dr. Seuss</span> American childrens author and cartoonist (1904–1991)

Theodor Seuss Geisel was an American children's author and cartoonist. He is known for his work writing and illustrating more than 60 books under the pen name Dr. Seuss. His work includes many of the most popular children's books of all time, selling over 600 million copies and being translated into more than 20 languages by the time of his death.

<i>The Cat in the Hat</i> 1957 childrens book by Dr. Seuss

The Cat in the Hat is a 1957 children's book written and illustrated by American author Theodor Geisel, using the pen name Dr. Seuss. The story centers on a tall anthropomorphic cat who wears a red and white-striped top hat and a red bow tie. The Cat shows up at the house of Sally and her brother one rainy day when their mother is away. Despite the repeated objections of the children's fish, the Cat shows the children a few of his tricks in an attempt to entertain them. In the process, he and his companions, Thing One and Thing Two, wreck the house. As the children and the fish become more alarmed, the Cat produces a machine that he uses to clean everything up and disappears just before the children's mother comes home.

<i>Green Eggs and Ham</i> 1960 childrens book by Dr. Seuss

Green Eggs and Ham is a children's book by Dr. Seuss. It was published by the Beginner Books imprint of Random House on August 12, 1960. The book follows Sam-I-am as he follows an unnamed man, repeatedly asking him if he would like to try some green eggs and ham before the man eventually tries it and likes it. Seuss began writing Green Eggs and Ham after his editor Bennett Cerf bet him $50 that he could not write an engaging children's book with a vocabulary of 50 words. Finding the challenge difficult, Seuss used notes, charts, and checklists to keep track of his progress. The book covers themes of conflict between individuals, though Seuss has said that it lacks any deeper meaning. Green Eggs and Ham was widely praised by critics for its writing and illustration, and challenge of writing a book in 50 words is regarded as a success. The book has been the subject of multiple adaptations, including a television series of the same name in 2019.

James W. Kemp was a United Methodist pastor and author from Lexington, Kentucky. He is best known for his book The Gospel According to Dr. Seuss.

<i>Horton Hatches the Egg</i> 1940 childrens book by Dr. Seuss

Horton Hatches the Egg is a children's book written and illustrated by Theodor Geisel under the pen name Dr. Seuss and published in 1940 by Random House. The book tells the story of Horton the Elephant, who is tricked into sitting on a bird's egg while its mother, Mayzie, takes a permanent vacation to Palm Beach. Horton endures a number of hardships but persists, often stating, "I meant what I said, and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful, one hundred percent!" Ultimately, the egg hatches, revealing an elephant-bird, a creature with a blend of Mayzie's and Horton's features.

<i>And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street</i> 1937 Dr. Seuss book

And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street is Theodor Seuss Geisel's first children's book published under the name Dr. Seuss. First published by Vanguard Press in 1937, the story follows a boy named Marco, who describes a parade of imaginary people and vehicles traveling along a road, Mulberry Street, in an elaborate fantasy story he dreams up to tell his father at the end of his walk. However, when he arrives home, he decides instead to tell his father what he actually saw—a simple horse and wagon.

The Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden is a sculpture garden at the Quadrangle in Springfield, Massachusetts, which honors Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, who was born in Springfield in 1904. The monument was designed by Lark Grey Dimond-Cates, the author's stepdaughter, and created by sculptor and artist Ron Henson.

<i>Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories</i> 1958 picture book collection by Dr. Seuss

Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories is a picture book collection by Theodor Seuss Geisel, published under his more commonly known pseudonym of Dr. Seuss. It was first released by Random House Books on April 12, 1958, and is written in Seuss's trademark style, using a type of meter called anapestic tetrameter. Though it contains three short stories, it is mostly known for its first story, "Yertle the Turtle", in which the eponymous Yertle, king of the pond, stands on his subjects in an attempt to reach higher than the Moon—until the bottom turtle burps and he falls into the mud, ending his rule.

<i>On Beyond Zebra!</i> 1955 book by Dr. Seuss

On Beyond Zebra! is a 1955 illustrated children's book by Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss. In this take on the genre of alphabet book, Seuss presents, instead of the twenty-six letters of the conventional English alphabet, twenty additional letters that purportedly follow them.

Beginner Books is the Random House imprint for young children ages 3–9, co-founded by Phyllis Cerf with Ted Geisel, more often known as Dr. Seuss, and his wife Helen Palmer Geisel. Their first book was Dr. Seuss's The Cat in the Hat (1957), whose title character appears in the brand's logo. Cerf compiled a list of 379 words as the basic vocabulary for young readers, along with another 20 slightly harder "emergency" words. No more than 200 words were taken from that list to write The Cat in the Hat. Subsequent books in the series were modeled on the same requirement.

<i>How the Grinch Stole Christmas!</i> (TV special) 1966 American animated television special based on the book by Dr. Seuss

How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is a 1966 American animated television special, directed and co-produced by Chuck Jones. Based on the 1957 children's book of the same name by Dr. Seuss, the special features the voice of Boris Karloff as the Grinch. It tells the story of the Grinch, who tries to ruin Christmas for the townsfolk of Whoville below his mountain hideaway.

<i>Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?</i> 1970 book by Dr. Seuss

Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? is a children's book written and illustrated by Theodor Geisel under the pen name Dr. Seuss and first published by Random House in 1970.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alphabet book</span> Childrens book designed to teach the letters of the alphabet

An alphabet book is a type of children's book giving basic instruction in an alphabet. Intended for young children, alphabet books commonly use pictures, simple language and alliteration to aid language learning. Alphabet books are published in several languages, and some distinguish the capitals and lower case letters in a given alphabet.

<i>A Fish Out of Water</i> (book) Book by Helen Palmer Geisel

A Fish Out of Water is a 1961 American children's book written by Helen Palmer Geisel and illustrated by P. D. Eastman. The book is based on a short story by Palmer's husband Theodor Geisel, "Gustav, the Goldfish", which was published with his own illustrations in Redbook magazine in June 1950.

The Theodor Seuss Geisel Award is a literary award by the American Library Association (ALA) that annually recognizes the "author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished book for beginning readers published in English in the United States during the preceding year." The winner(s) receive a bronze medal at the ALA Annual Conference, presented by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) division of ALA.

<i>How the Grinch Stole Christmas!</i> 1957 childrens story by Dr. Seuss

How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is a Christmas children's book by Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel written in rhymed verse with illustrations by the author. It follows the Grinch, a cranky, solitary creature who attempts to thwart the public's Christmas plans by stealing Christmas gifts and decorations from the homes of the nearby town of Whoville on Christmas Eve. Miraculously, the Grinch realizes that Christmas is not all about money and presents.

<i>The Lorax</i> (film) 2012 Illumination film

The Lorax, also known as Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, is a 2012 American animated musical fantasy comedy film produced by Illumination Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures. The film is the second screen adaptation of Dr. Seuss' 1971 children's book of the same name following the 1972 animated television special. Directed by Chris Renaud, co-directed by Kyle Balda, produced by Chris Meledandri and Janet Healy and written by the writing team of Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio, it stars the voices of Danny DeVito, Ed Helms, Zac Efron, Taylor Swift, Rob Riggle, Jenny Slate and Betty White.

Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, published over 60 children's books over the course of his long career. Though most were published under his well-known pseudonym, Dr. Seuss, he also authored a certain amount of books as Theo. LeSieg and one as Rosetta Stone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Political messages of Dr. Seuss</span>

The political messages of American children's author and cartoonist Theodor Seuss Geisel, best known as Dr. Seuss, are found in many of his books. Seuss was a liberal and a moralist who expressed his views in his books through the use of ridicule, satire, wordplay, nonsense words, and wild drawings to take aim at bullies, hypocrites, and demagogues.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum</span> Literary and childrens museum in Springfield, Massachusetts

The Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum is a museum in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States located in the William Pynchon Memorial Building, which until 2009 housed the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum. The museum opened in June 2017. It is located on the Quadrangle along with the Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden and other museums.

References

  1. "Dr. Seuss ABC" . Retrieved April 28, 2023.
  2. "Dr. Seuss's ABC" . Retrieved April 26, 2023.
  3. "Dr. Seuss's ABC by Dr. Seuss" . Retrieved April 27, 2023.
  4. Smolkin, Laura B.; Yaden, David B. (1992). "O Is for" Mouse": First Encounters with the Alphabet Book". Language Arts. 69 (6): 432–441. JSTOR   41411623 . Retrieved May 1, 2023.
  5. "O Is for" Mouse": First Encounters with the Alphabet Book". www.researchgate.net. Retrieved May 1, 2023.
  6. "The Top Five Best Selling Dr. Seuss Books of All Time". The Washington Post . Retrieved May 2, 2023.
  7. Schmidt, Alesandra M. "Watkinson Publications" via JSTOR.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  8. https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1004&context=exhibitions
  9. "Dr. Seuss Goes Augmented With The Dr. Seuss's ABC-An Amazing AR Alphabet App". Forbes . Retrieved May 2, 2023.
  10. "Readingville" . Retrieved April 28, 2023.
  11. "Readingville- Seuss in Springfield" . Retrieved April 28, 2023.
  12. Kirkpatrick, James N. (October 15, 2010). "ABCD's of heart failure: echo-ing through the first stage". Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography. 23 (10): 1035–1038. doi:10.1016/j.echo.2010.08.024. PMID   20868953 via PubMed.
  13. "Joey King (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved April 13, 2023.
  14. "Horton Hears a Who! (2008)".

Sources